Throwing Away a Hero
by gredandforgerock
Summary: Harry stopped Voldemort when he was 15. Less than a month later he finds not everyone is as appreciative as he thought. Bloodied and bruised he sets out to escape and runs into a little unexpected help, from several places. Updating THE LIST periodically. I compare Scotland and Florida to show how they break larger nation into smaller parts.
1. Chapter 1

Harry sulked all the way back to London. The train ride was not any fun at all for him. Dumbledore was insisting that he return to his relatives even though he had defeated Voldemort in the Atrium of the Ministry just after they had fought the Death Eaters for the prophecy. Who knew that being upset about his Godfathers death could kill Voldemort when he tried to take possession of Harry's body? Harry could still feel where the five points of light had hit him during that moment of time. He could still picture the scene. Dumbledore and Voldemort had been fighting and Voldemort disappeared. He had somehow entered Harry's body causing his head to feel like it was exploding. There was another place in his body that felt that way too but he couldn't pinpoint the area. Then he had seen five beams of light flying at him. Each had struck a different place on his body and when they did it hurt like nothing he had ever endured before. Each of those five beams seemed to tear through his body and meet up with the spot that hurt in the middle. Then his scar felt like it had been ripped open and the pain from it migrated to the same spot as the others. Then with an almighty scream he had ejected Voldemort and the pain from his body. Voldemort had taken two more breaths as he lay on the floor and then he started to convulse. After screaming and convulsing for a few moments everything stopped. Aurors rushed to the scene and declared the evil wizard dead.

Harry had been hailed as a hero and had been drug this way and that by people wanting to talk to him or thank him or interview him. He hadn't been able to find a bit of peace during that time, it had felt like hours instead of the minutes it was, at least not until he had passed out. He had woken up in the Hogwarts hospital wing nearly two weeks later. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna had tried to stay by his side but had been banished from the hospital. Once he awoke Madam Pomfrey allowed them to come back. They were having a fantastic time until Dumbledore had arrived and told him he was headed back to Privet Drive for the summer for his safety. Harry had made Hedwig stay at the school he didn't want his uncle to hurt her. He had said last year he'd kill the owl if he saw her again. Now here he was at the station with the Weasleys waiting for his relatives to show up. Instead Dumbledore arrived and greeted the group.

"Hello, what do we have here?" he asked pleasantly.

"Harry's relatives haven't picked him up yet." Molly informed him, "We were just about to go home and take him with us."

"Oh no, I wrote them and told them I'd bring him home." Dumbledore insisted, "I wanted to speak with them about their past treatment of Harry. I want to make sure they understand how we expect him to be treated from now on."

Harry sighed in relief. He had not been looking forward to this summer. He was already depressed because Sirius had died and it was his fault entirely. He didn't think he could handle his normal treatment without blowing up on them. Sure he had defeated Voldemort but he had lost Sirius in the fray. It didn't feel like a victory to him. His five closest friends seemed to be the only ones to understand.

Everyone said their goodbyes and Harry left the train station with his headmaster. They walked to a secluded place before shrinking Harry's trunk and putting it in his, Harry's, pocket and then Dumbledore told him to take his arm. Without warning Dumbledore turned on the spot and took Harry away with him. The sensation of being squeezed through a very tight tube made him panic for just a second but then it was all over.

"What was that?" Harry asked as he bent over trying to keep the contents of his stomach down where they belonged.

"Apparition." Dumbledore explained with a slight smile, "You've heard of it?"

"Yes, a little warning next time would be nice." He huffed again still struggling with his stomach.

"So sorry." Dumbledore waited until Harry righted himself, "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be Professor."

They walked from the forest near the park almost a mile to his relative's home. They didn't talk much as they were both caught up in their own thoughts. Just before they arrived Dumbledore finally spoke up.

"Harry you need to keep inside the house this year as much as possible." He insisted, "We don't want any death eaters to find you and kill you before they can be caught."

"What about that park we landed in?" Harry hoped it wasn't too far.

"No, inside the house." He instructed, "Don't go outside except into the back yard. Promise me please."

"But…"

"Promise me Harry." Dumbledore looked at him with a very worried expression on his face.

"I'll stay inside as much as possible and only go out into the back yard." Harry agreed.

"Good lad." He was patted on the back, "Ah, here we are."

Vernon met them at the door and quickly invited them in. It was still daylight and Harry was sure he didn't want any of the neighbors to see either one of them. Vernon led them into the kitchen where Dumbledore put a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry relaxed at his touch so he was unprepared when his wand was taken and he was shoved to the floor.

"We're through with him. We don't need or want him any longer. Make sure he doesn't try to return to school on September first. Use any means necessary." With that Dumbledore snapped Harry's wand and left him in shock and with no defense when the first of many of his uncle's fists begin to hit him.

Harry could see his aunt and Dudley against the far wall watching. He couldn't see them for long though as another hit knocked his glasses off his face. He had no idea how long the beating lasted but he could tell it was dark out when he felt his head being lifted by his hair.

"I won't be killing you today. Your life is mine and I'm planning on enjoying my summer." His uncle dropped his head and it bounced off the floor once before settling back. Harry heard his aunt and uncle laughing all the way to the stairs.

"I'm heading out with my gang." Dudley stated.

"That is fine, just be home early so you can rest before we work the freak over together. Father and son bonding moment don't you think." Both laughed loudly.

Harry heard the front door close and then footsteps stomped up the stairs and another door closed. He tried to sit up but the dizziness wouldn't let him. Instead he pulled himself across the kitchen floor to the back door. He nearly sobbed when he saw Dudley silently opening the door, his escape was cut off.

"I'm going to get you out of here so try not to make any sounds." Dudley whispered as he bent down to pick up Harry and handed him his glasses.

"Why?"

"You saved me last summer from those demon things." He offered, "I thought I should return the favor."

"Thanks just help me to my feet." Harry whispered back.

They snuck out the back door and walked around to the gate at the side. Dudley had left it open because it squeaked. They didn't close it as they stumbled their way down the street avoiding the lights until they walked they passed Piers house.

"Wait here." Dudley propped him up against a tree in a deep shadow. He ran up to the house and knocked. Harry had no idea how long he'd been gone when he returned with a hooded sweatshirt over his arm, "Here put this on, if we meet any more wizards wanting to kill you they won't recognize you right off."

"Thanks." Harry breathed.

"Can you stop any of the bleeding?" Dudley looked him over, "I'm afraid you're going to bleed to death before I can get you some help."

"I don't have a wand. He snapped it." Harry sighed.

"You used to do magic all the time before you got your wand." He pointed out, "Does it force you to stop when you get one?"

"Can't hurt to try." Harry thought to himself before putting his hand on his battered lip, "Episkey." The bleeding slowed to a stop so he tried it on a few other places and it seemed to be working. Next he rubbed his hand over his face and whispered, "Tergeo."

"That's the ticket." Dudley smiled, "Anything to get rid of the bruises?"

"I know of some potions but no spells." He shrugged and pulled on the hoody, "I'll be fine now. You can go home if you want."

"I don't think so." Dudley shook his head, "I bet wizards can read minds or something and your professor will know I helped you. I don't think he'll be very happy with me."

"He can and he will read your mind." Harry agreed, "He doesn't wait for you to give him permission. I agree he won't be very happy. So we'll stick together and keep each other safe."

"Where are we going?" Dudley asked.

"I don't know. I don't know how many people agree with what he just did." Harry confessed, "I guess we can head to Diagon Alley and I can go to the bank tomorrow."

"Why the bank, can you get a loan or something?" Dudley wondered if Harry had injured his brain when his dad was beating him.

"Don't need a loan. I'm loaded." Harry laughed, "We can get some money then head somewhere safe."

"How do we get to that alley?"

"I'm going to try the Knight Bus but I'm not sure it will work without my wand." Harry fished around in his pockets and found a galleon, and a hand full each of sickles and knuts., "I've got the money for it if it will stop." He threw out his right arm and waited but nothing happened, "No good."

Dudley was looking at him like he was crazy, "What's the night bus?"

"It's wizarding transport. It looks like a violently purple, triple decker bus." Harry grinned, "If I had a wand I could flag it down and get a ride to London. Instead it looks like we've got a long walk ahead of us."

"Piers has an older brother with a car." Dudley suggested, "Maybe we can get him to drive us."

"I don't know. If Dumbledore comes searching for me he might think to look at your friends." Harry thought aloud, "Although sometimes wizards don't have much common sense so we may be ok."

"We can have them drop us off at a bus depot in London so they'll think we just moved on." Dudley suggested, "Besides Dad won't volunteer that you escaped. He'll try to convince him you died so he doesn't get in trouble for not completing the job."

"Ok, let's do it." Harry agreed, "What are you going to tell Piers?"

"Not that you are Harry so don't talk." Dudley led him up to the door and knocked again.

"Dud back again?" Piers opened the door, "What's going on?"

"Listen I've gotten in some trouble and need to disappear for a bit." Dudley whispered, "Do you think your brother would mind driving us to London so we can catch a bus or something?"

"Who is this with you." He tried to look under Harry's hood.

"A friend from school and that's all you need to know." Dudley growled, "It won't be good if you know too much."

"Right got it." Piers stepped back into the house for a few minutes before returning with an older version of himself.

"You got any money?" the older guy asked, "Need you to pay for my gas."

"I can give you twenty pounds." Dudley offered, "I need the rest to get lost."

"Yes alright. I wanted to go to a party in London anyway." He grunted, "Piers you're staying because I won't be back for a couple days and you can't go where I'm going."

"Fine." He grumbled, "Be careful Big D."

"Ditto." Dudley replied and pulled Harry behind the older brother.

"Sit in the back I don't want to know who you are or what you've done." The brother stated as they got in, "Don't talk and I'll drop you off near the party I'm going to."

"Perfect." Dudley sat back.

"Get down as far as you can." He instructed, "I don't want anyone to know I have passengers until we're out of town."

Both boys slid down as far as they could. Dudley pulled Harry down onto the seat and the partially laid over him, but held his weight up with his arm, "We can't last forever like this so let us know when we can get up." Sometime later Harry was woke up by Dudley, "We're in London."

"Sorry didn't mean to sleep." Harry mumbled.

"More like passed out." Dudley chuckled.

"Where are we?" Harry looked out trying to figure out where they were.

"Charing Cross Road."

"Stop here and let us out please." Harry called.

"Are you sure, there isn't anything around here." He called back to them.

Harry noticed they were within a few blocks of the Leaky Cauldron, "This is where we want out."

"Fine." The man pulled over and Dudley helped Harry get out of the car.

He then pulled his wallet and gave the guy the money he had promised, "Thanks."

The car pulled away and Harry led the way digging through his pockets again, "Here is three galleons. I think we can get a room for that. If not we can get to Gringotts tomorrow and pay him back. I don't know if he'll let us do this, just don't mention my name and act like you know what you are doing." Harry gave him a quick lesson on wizarding money.

"Where are we staying?" Dudley looked around at the dilapidated street.

"Over there, you can't see it yet." Harry pointed a little in front of them, "Hold my arm and you'll see it appear."

"Holy…" Dudley gaped, "Where did it come from."

"It was always there it just takes a magical person to see it." He grinned, "Come on, you have to do the talking because they know me in here."

"Fine." Dudley stepped in and went right up to the bar. It was fairly empty because it was about one a.m. on a Wednesday night when he made his request for a room.

"I can give you a room with two single beds or one double." Tom offered, "Two galleons for the room, three and I'll throw in a couple sandwiches and drinks."

"We'll take the two singles and the food." Dudley laid the money on the counter.

Tom scooped it up and reached back against the wall, "Room three."

"Thanks." Dudley turned and followed Harry up the stairs.

He let them into the room and shut the door. Tom knocked a few minutes later and Harry opened the door to let him in. He carried a tray with two sandwiches and two bottles of butter beer. Tom set the tray on the table then left and Harry locked the door behind him. Both boys dove onto the food.

"What's this?" Dudley sipped at the drink.

"Butterbeer." Harry answered, "One of the two good drinks they allow kids to have. The other is pumpkin juice."

"It's good." Dudley shrugged.

As soon as the meal was done the two of them fell into the beds fully clothed and were asleep in moments. Harry woke when the sun reached the horizon. He had slept all the way to London so he had already slept more than Dudley. Quietly stepping into the bathroom he pulled off the hoody and got his first good look at the damage. His mouth was a mess and he had a black eye that was nearly swelled shut. He counted it as lucky that his forehead was too bruised to see the scar. He had several more bruises and cuts on his face but his shirt was worse as it was covered with blood. He tried to pull it off but quickly realized it was stuck to him. Harry stripped off his pants, turned on the shower and stepped in with his shirt still on. He hoped if he got the shirt wet it wouldn't rip the scabs off as he removed it. It wasn't a complete success but he was able to stop the bleeding with a little magic again. He was reluctant to use magic because he didn't want to be traced. Who knew what would happen to him if the ministry found him doing magic. He'd probably get tossed into Azkaban without a trial, just like Sirius.

A knock on the door interrupted him, "Harry are you in there?"

"Yes, just getting cleaned up a bit." Harry pulled on the hoody then opened the door.

"You look terrible." Dudley winced.

Harry shrugged in reply and stepped past him, "Any idea what time it is?"

"Seven." Dudley answered, "Do I have time to shower?"

"Yes we've got two hours until Gringotts opens. I'm not planning on leaving the room until the last minute." Harry sighed, "I'll buy you a big lunch to make up for skipping breakfast."

"That sounds good to me." Dudley closed the door and started his shower.

Harry sat on his bed and thought over the last twenty four hours. It seemed amazing to him that this time yesterday he was sitting in the Great Hall trying to fend off people who were patting him on the back for defeating Voldemort. Today he'll be avoiding them so they don't injure him further. At quarter to nine the two of them left the room planning to wait in the pub for someone to go into the alley. As it ended up they didn't have to wait because a small family was heading to the door as they descended the stairs. They hurried and caught up to the family and slipped into the alley without a hitch. They reached the doors of the bank just as they were being opened.


	2. Chapter 2

"What are they?" Dudley whispered.

"Sorry I forgot to warn you, they are Goblins." Harry whispered back as he approached a teller, "Morning, I have a problem, I need to get into my vault but I don't have my key."

"Name." the goblin stated sounding board.

"Harry Potter."

The goblin glanced up and then got a concerned look on his face, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine I just need to get some money." Harry tried to hurry him along.

"If you don't have your key you'll need to have a blood test to make sure you are who you say you are." The goblin stated, "If you aren't you will be facing goblin justice."

"I know." Harry nodded.

"Do you have any idea where your key is?" he asked.

"I think Molly Weasley has it. Dumbledore insisted I give it to her so I wouldn't have to hang around the Alley and be in danger." Harry replied, "I'm having a bit of a problem with Dumbledore right now so I don't know if I can get it back from them."

"Follow me." The goblin stated and jumped down from his chair.

Dudley and Harry followed him down a hall where he stopped and knocked on a door. When the door opened he spoke to someone inside and the indicated the two of them to enter. Harry led the way and they found themselves in an office with a goblin dress in intricately decorated robes.

"Good morning, my name is Gripstone." The goblin greeted them, "I'm in charge of testing."

"Good morning." Harry reached out and offered his hand which was shook, "This is my muggle cousin Dudley."

"Please tell me he isn't the one that made you look like that." Gripstone indicated Harry's face under the hood.

"No, he helped me escape." Harry grimaced, "And now I need some money."

"Alright, I need some blood on this parchment." Gripstone held out a knife.

Harry grabbed it and asked, "How much?"

"Several drops."

Harry sliced his hand a squeezed the drops onto the parchment then watched as his name was written across it in a neat script. He kept his hand clenched to keep it from bleeding too much; he'd lost enough blood last night.

"You can heal your hand the ministry won't be able to detect magic use in here." Gripstone watched as more writing was etched across the parchment.

"I don't have my wand." Harry muttered.

"Did you lose that too?" Gripstone sneered.

"No it was snapped." Harry replied defensively.

"By whom and why was it snapped." Gripstone looked down his nose at Harry.

"Dumbledore." He sighed.

"He didn't want Harry to be able to defend himself." Dudley interjected not liking the Goblin's attitude towards Harry, "He basically told my dad to kill him. You can see for yourself he tried to accomplish it."

Gripstone sat back at stared at the two boys, "Albus Dumbledore."

"Yes." Harry replied hotly, "It was not in conjunction with any kind of trial or anything. He basically said I wasn't needed or wanted any more. I'm not ready to just give up and die so I'll just leave the world that doesn't want me. But I want my money."

"Wait here." Gripstone said and moved towards the door, "You're safe here we won't let anyone near you."

After he left Dudley looked at Harry, "Do you think they'll help or go get Dumbledore?"

"I don't know." Harry sighed, "I have to hope they're going to help."

Gripstone returned a few minutes later with another goblin, "This is Grimstooth, tell him what happened."

"Dumbledore returned me to my relative's home yesterday afternoon. He took my wand and told them I wasn't wanted or needed. He told my uncle to make sure I couldn't return to the school in September and then broke my wand and left." Harry summarized.

"Have you ever heard of a pensieve?" Grimstooth asked.

"Yes." Harry nodded.

"Can I have the memory of that day?" he asked.

"I don't know how to give it to you." Harry balked.

"I'll show you how." He pushed.

"Can I have it back when you're done?" Harry asked, "I don't want to forget it."

"You can have it back." Grimstooth nodded, "I just need to view it then I have the memory to show to others if needed."

"Ok what do I do?" Grimstooth walked Harry through the process and then viewed the memory. When he returned he gave the memory back, "Perfect, that is just what I needed."

"Needed for what?" Harry asked.

"We've been trying to catch Dumbledore for years. We know he has done all kinds of underhanded things but he's too slippery to get caught." Grimstooth explained, "I think we'll have him this time. Now I need to get some pictures for evidence of the abuse and then we'll get you healed up."

Harry waited until the person with the camera arrived. He was extremely embarrassed when Fleur Delacour was the one to arrive, "Harry, what happened?"

"Hi Fleur, it's a long story." Harry sighed.

"Is the damage only to your face?" she asked as she took a few pictures her heavy accent was just as he remembered.

"No it's all over his body too." Dudley answered helpfully he was in a slight daze.

"Take off your shirt then." She ordered. Harry carefully lifted the hoody over his shoulders while Dudley held his glasses. A small gasp from Fleur was all he heard. She continued to snap pictures and had him turn so she could see them all, "Any injuries below your belt?"

"I'm not taking off my pants." Harry objected strongly.

"I won't make you." She chuckled, "I just need to know for the documentation."

"Oh, just bruises, most of the punches were to my face and upper body." He said relieved.

"Do I need to question him on the details?" she asked Grimstooth.

"No I have that." He replied, "I have viewed his memory of the event."

"Harry if you need a place to stay I have a flat near here." She offered.

"Not necessary." Grimistooth shook his head, "We'll be providing accommodations for the two of them."

"They are still in danger then." She nodded.

"Ms. Delacour, I will remind you that this is confidential. Absolutely no one can find out he was here or what has been seen and heard." Grimstooth stated in a hard voice, "Not even any other Gringotts employees."

"Yes Sir." She replied, "Are you finished with me?"

"Yes." She nodded and carefully hugged Harry before she left.

"She was beautiful." Dudley grinned stupidly, "How did you meet her?"

"Fourth year we had a tournament at my school. It included two other schools competing against us. She was from one of the other schools." Harry explained, "We became friends during that year."

"Are all witches that beautiful?" he asked.

"No." Harry snickered, "We have the same range as at your school."

"Huh, I thought they'd be able to magic themselves better looking or something." He stated.

"Only up to a point." Harry snorted, "Some things even magic can't help." Both goblins chuckled at Harry's comment along with Dudley.

"Alright, do you have any belongings with you?" Grimstooth asked.

"I have my trunk but it's shrunk. I'd also like to get another wand if possible. I won't go to Ollivander because I believe he would tell Dumbledore." Harry said, "I don't know of another wand maker though."

"Are you sure you need one?" Dudley asked, "You seemed to fine last night."

"Wandless?" Gripstone asked.

"Just Episkey and Tergeo." Harry replied, "We were a bit afraid of the amount of blood loss at that point."

A healer entered before anything else could be said. After getting a reminder about privacy like Fleur's the healer went to work on his injuries. He was healed in short order and given some paste for bruises with instructions on how and when to use it. A short time later the two humans and two goblins were alone again.

"We've canceled all keys to your vaults and are conducting a thorough investigation of any and all transactions for the last sixteen years." Gripstone explained, "We would like you to make a list if you can of any transactions you know were made."

"As far as I know the only money spent should be on tuition and school supplies." Harry said, "I took fifty galleons each year for supplies and spending money, but I don't know what tuition is. First year I was given a broom but it may have come from my account and fourth year I think Mrs. Weasley got some money to buy me dress robes for the Yule ball. "

"Nothing before your first year?" Gripstone questioned.

"I lived with my muggle aunt and uncle. They wouldn't have stepped foot into the magical world and they would have emptied my vault had they known it existed." Harry glanced at Dudley, "Sorry."

"No need to be sorry, they would have." Dudley shrugged.

"Did your parents ever get any money for my care?" Harry asked.

"Not that I'm aware of." He shrugged, "And not that they should have for how they and I treated you."

"You were a kid." Harry shook his head, "You did what your parents showed you. Now that you've grown up you've saved my life. I don't really hold anything against you."

"Thanks."

"You are saying Dumbledore didn't pull out any money and give it to you?" Grimstooth asked.

"No he never pulled out money for me that I know of." Harry replied, "However the Weasley's sometimes got it for me before we shop for supplies."

"Alright, Gringotts will be putting you both in a safe place outside the country." Grimstooth explained, "Most likely the United States as they also speak English, they butcher it but it is English."

"I don't have a passport." Dudley said worriedly.

"Me either." Harry added.

"We'll get all the necessary documents. You are going under diplomatic protection." Grimstooth explained, "You should be safe to move about in the muggle sector."

"How are we getting diplomatic protection?" Dudley asked.

"It will be an arrangement between the United States and the Goblin Nation." Grimstooth explained, "Magical England is going to be the defense on this case so it isn't safe for you to stay here."

"Huh?" Harry was shocked.

"We need to know if Dumbledore is alone in this or if everyone feels this way." Grimstooth explained, "Then we will know what to do with you. All of your accounts here will be frozen but we will be sending you a small allowance for spending. From this point on Gringotts will be acting as your guardian. You have provided us enough evidence to suspend Dumbledore's guardianship as well as your relatives."

"What about Dudley?" Harry asked, "He's without parents at the moment too."

"Both of you are under our care." Grimstooth told them, "He will be staying with you. His father expecting him to help in your torture and him helping you instead gains him the same status and protection as you."

"Good." Harry sighed, "When do we go?"

"Let's see your trunk." Grimstooth and Harry sorted out his belongings. All the muggle clothes were removed and held as evidence. He kept the school robes so he had something to wear. Gripstone enlarged a set of his school robes for Dudley to wear. The books and broom were left in his trunk and stored in his vault, "Did you leave anything else at the school or home?"

"My owl and her cage I left at Hogwarts." Harry stated, "Uncle Vernon told me last summer if he ever saw her again he was going to kill her. Then at the house I have my old books and things, nothing I much care about."

"Everything I own is at the house." Dudley shrugged, "But I can live without most of it. In fact most of the stuff in Harry's room is my old discarded stuff. My parents gave me twice as much as any child should have and they gave Harry nothing. Also he has only been in that bedroom for the last few summers. Before that they kept him in the cupboard under the stairs. He was forced to do most of the cooking, cleaning and chores while I was encouraged to torment him. And I did every chance I got until last summer. Those demon things attacked us and he saved me from them. Then he got in trouble for using magic."

"I remember that farce." Grimstooth nodded, "Pardon the pun but they were on a witch hunt."

Harry only nodded. Both boys were allowed privacy to change into the school robes and then they were taken to another room to catch the portkey to the United States. Grimstooth was going with them to make sure everything was set up. Each was given a packet of documents that included real and fake ids. They would be living under assumed names for their protection.

"Good lets go." Grimstooth said as they entered the room.

"I hate portkeys." Harry grumbled.

"Why what do they do to you?" Dudley asked looking at the key in the goblin's hands cautiously.

"Transport you from here to there in a matter of minutes." Harry shrugged, "It's not so much what they do, as what they have done. Fourth year a portkey took me to the bad guy instead of going to the school like it was supposed to."

"Will this one?" Dudley asked.

"Depends, did Gringotts make the portkey or did the ministry?" Harry asked.

"Gringotts made it." Grimstooth answered but watched to see Harry's reaction.

"Good we'll be fine then." Harry patted Dudley on the back, "Goblins I can trust to keep their word, wizards not so much."

"That is experience talking." Gripstone nodded, "You seemed to have learned a few important lessons."

"Not all wizards are liars, but they have more than most any other species." Harry shrugged.

"It's time." Grimstooth called, "You must touch the key now."

Harry and Dudley touched the key and then Harry grabbed ahold of Dudley's arm, "I'm going to keep ahold of you so you don't need to worry. However, I'm terrible at the landings and usually end up on my bum or my knees."

"Keep your knees bent." Gripstone offered just before they were whisked away.

For Harry it was the best landing he had ever done up to the point where Dudley fell and took him to the floor. Both of them started laughing and struggled to stand. Grimstooth moved them off the landing point and through a door. They quickly walked down the hall and stopped outside another office.

Knocking Grimstooth opened the door, "Are you ready for us?"

"Yes come in." a voice answered, "Take a seat."

Harry was a bit shocked to see a human behind the desk instead of a Goblin. However Grimstooth explained, "This is Security Lead Crenshaw he is our liaison for human security. He can hide you better than anyone else. Crenshaw this is Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley. Dursley is a muggle. We're hiding them from Dumbledore."

"You finally have something on that piece of… filth." Crenshaw smiled.

Grimstooth spent the next hour filling Crenshaw in on what was happening. The man's smile grew every time something new came out until at the end he was positively beaming. Harry wasn't sure if he liked or trusted the man. But if he was employed by the Goblins he had to be good and trustworthy.

"I'm taking care of everything personally." Crenshaw stood and shook Grimstooth's hand, "Leave it up to me you have my word no one will know they're here."

"Good." Grimstooth nodded and turned to the boys, "Listen to him and he will keep you safe. Good luck to you both. I'll be in contact when we have the old goat. He isn't going to know what hit him."

"Good luck to you too." Harry said.

Crenshaw clapped his hands and rubbed them together after Grimstooth left. Dudley glanced at Harry a moment before the man addressed them, "Welcome to Florida. That is one of the states in the United States. It's kind of like how you all have Scotland and Wales we have fifty states and one is Florida. We are in the south east portion of the U.S. we have fairly mild temperatures all year round, most of the time. We are situated in the middle of the state in a city called Orlando. Lots to do here including the three largest amusement park chains, we are neighbors to one of them. For the next couple days you will be staying here. I don't mean the bank, I mean Orlando. We can do some sightseeing if you want."

"Isn't Disney World and Universal Studios here?" Dudley asked.

"That's two of the three. We also have Sea World." Crenshaw stated, "In addition Florida has the best beaches in the world, of course I'm just a bit biased on that end."

"Mr. Crenshaw, I am guessing you are a wizard, are we staying in the wizarding world?" Harry asked.

"Yes I am, no we aren't and call me Mike." He replied, "We have several wizard areas around but you'll be staying in the muggle parts. Yes I am a wizard but my partner isn't. You'll be meeting Mark in a little while. For now we'll be getting you situated. Grim said you don't have a wand, oh and don't tell him I call him Grim, he'd eat me alive."

"No Dumbledore snapped it." Harry frowned at the memory.

"Ok we'll have to get you another one." Mike said thoughtfully, "Wouldn't do for Harry Potter to be wandless. Congrats by the way, for offing Voldesnort. I'm sure you hear that a lot but I appreciate it. My aunt lives in the UK and I'm glad she's safe. You may know her Minnie McGonagall?"

"Professor McGonagall?" Harry asked, "She's my head of house."

"Good old Minnie, still teaching." Mike sighed, "My mom was her sister. She left home and married my dad. Terribly sweet story about meeting while traveling and just staying together, I'll have to tell you about it sometime. For now though we need to get you a wand."

The man picked up a phone and made a call. Dudley leaned over to Harry and asked, "The bad guys name was Voldesnort?"

"No." Harry chuckled, "I do like it though. His name was Voldemort. Means run from death or something. His real name was Tom, he moved the letters of his full name around and came up with that as his evil made up dark wizard name."

"We need to make one up for the other one." Dudley chuckled, "Like Dumbo, no that's taken, Dumbdork?"

"I like it." Harry grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ok we're all set." Mike turned back to them, "I'm going to take you to find a wand in the wizard section then we'll meet up with Mark and he'll set you up in a hotel nearby. A few days to sightsee with us here and then we'll be moving to a less wizard heavy area. We'd move right away but Gringotts hasn't set up your expense account yet. Should be ready tomorrow but we'll plan a few days in case of trouble. Let's move out."

Harry and Dudley stood and followed Mike out the door and down the hall. They passed through the main bank that looked remarkably like the one in London. Once they were out the doors though they knew they weren't in London any longer. The store fronts looked much more modern. Both gaped as they followed the man down the walkway. He stopped in front of a store and looked back at them before smiling and leading them in. Boxes lined the shelves, boxes of wands. They weren't behind the counter like at Ollivanders. They could just walk up and take one off the shelf. Harry hadn't seen anything like it.

"Hello." A woman approached Harry. She had a name tag that said Sally, "Can I help you?"

"Sally, my young friend needs a replacement wand." Mike grinned cordially, "Had a bit of a problem with the old one."

"Mike, I didn't see you there." She smiled back.

"You wound me. Not noticing your utterly gorgeous boyfriend for a couple of scrawny teens?" Mike put his hand on his heart before whispering to the boys, "Not that you're scrawny or anything really."

"You are not my boyfriend." She frowned at him.

"But you didn't say I wasn't utterly gorgeous." Mike grinned and touched her nose, "I'm making progress."

Harry laughed, he couldn't help it. Mike reminded him of Sirius. Sally turned on him and said, "Don't encourage him."

"Sorry." Harry chuckled, "He just reminds me of my Godfather. He thought he was quite the ladies' man too."

Sally joined him in his laughter, "I like you. Ok now to business, what kind of a wand did you have before?"

"Holly and Phoenix feather." Harry provided.

"Odd combination." She said thoughtfully, "I don't think I have one like it. This is all the holly I have." She led them to a section and pulled one down, "This one has dragon heart string why not give it a go."

Harry held it and gave a swish. Sparks flew out the end but he handed it back, "Not really comfortable. I don't think so."

He tried every variety of holly wand she had but didn't find a fit, "Maybe you need Pheonix feather then." She walked over to the wall and tapped it with her wand. Around them the shelves swirled for a moment before coming to a stop. She pulled them to another area and said, "Ok here are all my Phoenix wands."

"That was cool." Harry exclaimed, "What kind of spell was that?"

"Oh not so much a spell really." She said, "It's more like a sorting option. The last customer wanted a specific wood so I sorted the shop for that. This time I sorted by animal. If you wanted just any feather I could sort by type. We built it into the shop as a way to help people looking for certain things. When the eleven year olds start looking for wands though all that is thrown out the window and we just have to search."

"Why?" Dudley asked.

"The wand chooses the wizard." Sally told him, "You must be muggle if you didn't know that."

"I am he's my cousin so I'm just watching." Dudley explained, "I didn't get to go when we were eleven."

"Good a new experience for you then." She grinned and started pulling boxes down for Harry to try again. Still not having any luck she began to ask some questions, "Do you have any affinity for certain magical creatures?"

"I like hippogryffs, phoenixes and unicorns." Harry said.

"Any direct contact?" Sally asked.

"Not unicorns but the other two I have." Harry shrugged, "I've also come in contact with acromantulas, dragons, a basilisk and a Sphinx. But those are just the big things. I've handled all the regular care of magical creatures stuff too."

"I have got to know, how did you manage to have contact with all of those?" Mike wondered.

"At school." Harry shrugged.

"Someone brought an acromantula to your school?" he asked.

"No." Harry laughed, "A colony lives in the forest on school grounds."

"How did you run into them?" Mike asked, "If they live there the forest should be out of bounds."

"It is." Harry laughed, "It's called the forbidden forest for a reason. But if you think that keeps kids out your crazy. I went for a good reason though. My friend Hagrid was being accused of a crime and I was trying to find evidence of his innocence. Unfortunately the one who could tell me where the evidence was lived in the middle of the colony, she was the oldest one of the group and told me where to find the evidence. Then of course she sent her brood after us and we barely made it out."

"If that's how you met the spiders I don't want to know how you met the others." Sally shuddered.

Harry glanced at Dudley and saw a shocked look on his face, "You ok Dudley?"

"Those are all real animals?" he asked bewildered, "I don't know what all of them are but dragons and unicorns are real?"

"They're tightly regulated so muggles don't run across them." Harry explained, "If you found a unicorn you'd know magic was real. I'll tell you about the others later."

"Did you say the acro whatever could talk?" he asked.

"Yes acromantulas are really large spiders that can manage human speech when they get older." Harry explained, "And when I say large I mean as big as a small bus."

"Oh." Dudley looked pale, "And you met one."

"I met a colony of them." Harry said, "Only two of them were that large. Then there was a handful that was car size. The rest of the several hundred of them were smaller down to about the size of a small dog."

Dudley shivered and they went back to the job of finding Harry a wand. Finally they found a wand that worked for him and felt comfortable. It was a hawthorn wand with a hippogriff feather, eleven inches. By the time they had found it Dudley had given up watching and was stretched out on a padded seat.

"Dudley we're done." Harry shook him.

"Finally." He stood, "I was beginning to think you'd have to just improve on your wandless magic."

"I'll try that too." He said, "That way if I get disarmed again I won't be helpless."

"You can to wandless?" Mike asked.

"Some small things." Harry said, "I've done Episkey and tergeo."

"Then there was all that stuff when we were kids." Dudley offered, "You know I was thinking, last year I thought you dropped your wand with those things were after us."

"I did but I yelled out the lighting spell and the tip lit up so I could find it." Harry shrugged, "I don't know if that is technically wandless magic or not."

"It is." Mike answered, "If you aren't touching a wand then it's wandless even if the wand is involved."

"Good to know." Harry replied, "Did you have any other stops for us?"

"No I was just going to take you to the hotel." He answered.

"We don't have any other clothes or toiletry kits." Harry said.

"Can't you just magic us some?" Dudley asked.

"No remember I can't do magic outside of school." Harry pointed out.

"We don't have a law like that." Mike said as the left the store waving at Sally as they went, "You can't do magic around muggles unless they already know about magic. You can't use anything labeled dark. House hold spells and any practice for school related stuff is fine. Tell me how can you do your homework if you can't do magic outside of school?"

"Boarding school." Harry explained, "I live there nine months out of the year. Summer work is usually just essays."

"That explains it." Mike agreed, "We'll be exiting the wizard section through that door. On the other side is a muggle store. This is a shopping district near the amusement park called Universal Studios. You'll be staying nearby. Let me give Mark a call and he'll get you some stuff."

"Do you think we can go to the park tomorrow?" Dudley asked.

"Yep." Mike answered before pulling a small item out of his pocket, "Mark they need clothes and toiletries." He paused for the answer. Harry realized he was talking on a small phone, "Ok we'll meet you there. Bye."

"Cell phone." Dudley whispered while Mike was still talking, "They work almost everywhere."

"Never seen one." Harry shook his head, "I didn't realize I'd missed so much in just the five years I've been gone."

"They're a lot cheaper now. Almost everyone has one." Dudley replied, "I tried to get Dad to buy me one. He said he would when I went back to school this year."

It didn't take much time for them to reach the hotel where they finally got to meet Mark. It ended up that Mike was Mark's younger brother. Mark was a squib, but it didn't matter in the least to either of the men, they worked well together. While Mike was getting them to the hotel Mark had picked out a few outfits for each as well as toiletries.

"Nice to meet you Potter, Dursley." Mark greeted them after a quick conference with Mike, "Just so you can relax I haven't seen any new wizards roaming about. Gringotts won't start throwing a hissy fit until you two are safely away from the wizarding world or in a less densely populated wizarding area."

"Are you both coming with us?" Dudley asked.

"Yes we will be your shadows for the foreseeable future." Mike explained, "Mark will be our scout. He has an affinity for spotting wizards so we'll know what we are walking into. We will follow at a safe distance. If he tells us to leave we are to leave with no questions asked."

"Won't he be in danger?" Harry wondered.

"No they can't sense him." Mike said, "If there is a concentration of them in one area we'll avoid it. He'll backtrack and catch up. If there is a dangerous situation I'll be handling it and you'll leave with Mark. I know you took out that bad dude Harry, but until you have practice with the new wand you should avoid dangerous situations."

"Ok." Harry answered happy to finally have actual answers to his questions. If only Dumbledore had treated him the same way then maybe Sirius would still be alive.

"If you don't mind me asking why did everyone leave it up to you to kill Voldemort? Surely an auror or at least an adult could have done it." Mark looked confused.

"A prophecy was made saying only I could kill him." Harry shrugged, "Everyone believed it and I have to think there was something about it because of the lights."

"What lights?" Mike asked.

Harry explained what had happened from his point of view. No one said a word as he explained about his scar and the connection to Voldemort. When he told how the lights felt Mike gasped and the others looked to him.

"Did you tell the aurors about that?" he asked.

"No one asked me anything about actually killing him. Most of the aurors had arrived just before Voldemort disappeared to possess me. They seemed to know what happened." Harry said.

"Idiots." Mike raved, "They didn't ask you anything?"

"Professor Dumbledore told them I had to be questioned with my guardian present." Harry said, "They were supposed to visit me at Privet Drive this summer. He asked them to give me some time to grieve."

"Sounds like Dumbdork didn't want your side of the story out." Dudley pointed out, "Besides isn't he your magical guardian? I thought that's what that one goblin said."

"I need to get Grim back here and give him this memory." Mike huffed, "This is very important. You guys stay in the hotel tonight and we can order room service. Harry, keep your wand handy just in case. I'll try not to be long."

True to his word Mike returned just under an hour later. He found both boys on the couch watching the television while Mark sat in the kitchen at the remains of a pizza, "We saved you a piece or two."

"Thanks." Mike grabbed a slice and sat at the table, "How are they doing?"

"Fine they're good kids." Mark answered, "Dudley asked what kind of hotel room had a kitchen so I had to explain condos to them. Basically they just seem to be catching up. Guess they were both in boarding schools."

"England is like that I guess. Have we got a line on one for Dursley?"

"No not yet. We're still waiting on his transcripts. He says he gets terrible grades." Mark offered, "Never liked school and all that."

"Well he should get caught up this summer. He'll be doing that while Potter works with his new wand." Mike said, "If we get outnumbered he would be good to have on our side."

"Dursley boxes." Mark added, "Said he had joined the school team this year."

"Even better, I hate working with helpless victims, it's much better if they'll help save themselves." Mike grinned, "Have you gone over protocol?"

"Yep." He replied.

"Mike you're back." Dudley looked over his shoulder, "Any pizza left?"

"There is one more slice with my name on it and then the box is empty." He laughed, "What happened to the other box?"

"It's the only food we've had all day." Harry replied, "What happened at the bank?"

"Grim was thrilled." Mike confirmed, "Evidentially they had a magical surge that particular day and you gave them the cause. They're investigating that now too. You're expense account has been set up so we are free to sightsee for a couple of days then we're off."

"How much do we need to reimburse you for the clothes and things?" Harry wondered.

"Not a thing. That was already covered." Mike shook his head, "You two should head to bed. I know local is only seven but that's midnight your time and you've had a long couple of days."

"No wonder I'm knackered." Harry yawned, "It's also way past time for my bruise potion."

"Will it hurt me if I put it on your back?" Dudley asked.

Harry shrugged but Mark answered, "It shouldn't but we'll let Mike handle it. He needs to see what damage is left after the healer anyway."

"But I'm eating." Mike complained making the boys laugh.

"You can finish after Potter is set." Mark smacked his head.

"I can wait until you're finished." Harry offered.

"No I'm just giving you sh… I'm just teasing you." Mike altered his words at the last second these kids didn't need his language added to everything else, "Let's go you'll need to strip to the waste and lay on your stomach then I'll leave and you can finish. Do you have anything on your legs?"

"Minor bruises." Harry answered, "I can reach all of them. The healer said his hardest punches were on my face and upper body. He was aiming for unconscious so I wouldn't leave before he finished me off. Lucky for me I have a higher tolerance for pain than most and Dudley came back for me."

The next morning the four of them entered the park. Mark kept ahead of them and only turned them away from one ride the whole day. For the rest of the day they were able to stay on the opposite side of the park as the magical group that they had run across. The next few days were quite pleasant for the group. All too soon their time was done in Orlando Florida.

"Where are we headed?" Dudley asked.

"Sorry but I can't tell you until we get there." Mark replied, "Protocol in case someone has bugged this place."

"Like those spy movies, makes sense." Dudley agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Messers Weasley thank you for coming." Grimstooth smiled showing all his teeth. It never failed to rattle a wizard yet.

"Thank you for inviting us Grimstooth." Fred was the one to speak, they didn't ever try to twin speak to the goblins.

"We need to speak to you about your investor." The goblin watched for their reactions.

"Harry? What about him." George was perplexed they had never asked about him before. True that they hadn't had a business account for long but the Goblins had helped them write an agreement that included Harry.

"What do you know of his home life?" Grimstooth asked.

"It's not very good. During his second year we had to pull bars off his window so he could escape. They weren't going to allow him to go back to school." Fred frowned at the memory.

"We even had to break out his trunk. They'd locked his trunk, wand and broom away so he couldn't even touch them." George added.

"Then there were all the locks on the doors." Fred added.

"I don't think they ever hit him, but they certainly didn't treat him well." George finished, "We were forever fighting Dumbledore to let him come to the Burrow so he wouldn't have to stay with them so long. No one believed us about his situation."

"Did Mr. Potter ever give any specifics?" Grimstooth was quite interested.

"Not really. When we tried to get him to talk about it he said it didn't matter." Fred sighed, "Have they hurt him? Does he need us to save him because the shop has an upstairs apartment, he can stay with us."

"No he has already been removed from his relatives." Grimstooth nodded the twins seemed to be on Potter's side, "He was severely beaten."

"Wow, he's never said anything about that." George said, "I don't remember seeing any bruises before either."

"Mr. Dursley seems to think he had the permission of the wizarding world to kill Mr. Potter." Grimstooth laid out his last card, "Seeing as we didn't have a need for him any longer."

"What!" The twins yelled in tandem, their distress was clear and true, "What gave him that idea."

"Not so much a what as a who." The goblin let them do the figuring after that.

"Who could have led them to believe that?" George asked.

"Dumbledore said he was going to straighten them out on Harry's treatment." Fred turned to the goblin, "Surely Dursley isn't saying Dumbledore told him to kill Harry."

"He did, we have proof, Harry's memory of that event which was followed by the beating." Grimstooth watched as their shocked disbelief turned to anger.

"He was the one always sending him back. I bet he knew how bad they were." George hissed.

"No wonder all our complaints fell on deaf ears." Fred added in anger, "What can we do for Harry?"

"Keep quiet for now." Grimstooth instructed, "We are marshaling our forces and we will be taking Dumbledore down and any who support his handling of this affair. Speak to no one, not even family until we are sure they all back Potter."

"If there is anything at all that Harry needs we'll do our best to provide it." George offered, "Thank you for bringing us in."

"If Dumbledore comes into your shop don't look him in the eye. He has no compunction about entering your mind without your knowledge or permission." Grimstooth warned, "But he has to look you in the eye."

The Goblin smiled to himself as he watched the twins leave the bank. Dumbledore supporters were falling left and right. Only one Weasley was choosing Dumbledore's side and it was the same one who opposed Potter before so it wasn't a complete surprise. Fudge of course sanctioned anything opposing Potter but as his days as Minister were limited he was not a concern either. Still neither of those two knew the full extent of what Dumbledore was doing to oppose Potter. The man had even started rumors amongst his followers that Harry didn't do anything. He was saying that a clever spell of his own design ejected and killed Voldemort. He was slowly spreading the lie one at a time so it would take hold. It made Grimstooth wonder who really defeated Grindlewald.

*******Point of View change**********

When the group landed at the next stop Dudley fell over but Harry was able to keep his feet, "Yes I stuck the landing, first time ever!"

"I'm more interested in where we are." Dudley groaned from the ground.

"Welcome to South Padre Island, Texas." Mark grinned, "Second best beaches in the world, don't mind our biased opinions."

The teens chuckled as they looked around. They could see nothing but sand, sand dunes and water. Harry began to wonder just where they would be staying. He didn't even see a wizard's tent anywhere close. Looking at Dudley he knew they were both thinking along similar lines, although Dudley wouldn't know about the wizard tents.

"Umm… are we sleeping on the sand?" Harry asked skeptically.

"No we're going to catch a ride to the condo from here." Mike threw out his wand arm in a manner very like how Harry caught the Knight bus. Harry's stomach immediately clinched.

Harry was relieved a moment later when a black vehicle came to a stop in front of them. A nicely dressed blond man hopped out of the vehicle, he looked to be in his mid-twenties to Harry, "Hello, welcome to Beach Trans, I'm Brad. Where can I take you and is anyone muggle?"

"Two muggles, two wizards and we're staying at Suntide II." Mike answered.

"Right load up and we'll head that way." Brad said as he opened the door, "You are currently about two miles from the main road that muggles use it ends in a sand dune. We're going to drive that way and you'll be able to see the town shortly."

Mike enlarged their bags and helped Brad put them in the back while the teens climbed in. Harry noticed right off that the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. Brad was the last one in and he climbed into the driver's seat.

"Excuse me." Dudley interrupted before Brad could start off, "But is it a magic thing that the steering wheel is on the wrong side?"

"It's an American thing." Mark answered then teased, "We drive on the right side of the road. You drive on the wrong side."

It wasn't long before the two boys began to see something in the distance, "What's that?"

"That is the town." Brad said, "Basically there are a few houses, a few condos and resorts and the rest is restaurants and shops. Anything you need for the beach can be found in the shops, plus a ton of other stuff. We also have this cool little place up here on the right you may want to visit, it's a sea turtle preserve. They help out injured animals and you can see them in the tanks. If you are around for a while you may be able to watch a hatching. That happens off and on during the summer."

After they were settled in their condo Harry asked, "Why here?"

"There is no wizarding area here. Beach Trans is the only magical thing on the island. The rest is purely muggle." Mike informed them, "We'll see a few magical folk here but by far it will be mostly muggles. Now if it was still Spring Break that would be something else entirely."

"Any news from Grimstooth?" Harry asked nervously.

"Actually yes." Mike pulled a report from a folder on the table, "It says that a Percy Weasley agrees with Dumbledore but the rest of the family supports you."

Harry sighed with relief as he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders. He didn't know what he would have done had the Weasley's thought he was worthless now, "No real surprise there. Percy has never liked me."

Mike smiled before continuing, "Your Professors haven't been approached yet. Grim thought it was best to get your closest supporters first. He says next will be the aurors Tonks and Shacklbolt, they're still debating about Moody. They will be giving Lupin a few days before they approach him."

Harry looked confused for a moment then snapped his fingers, "The full moon was this week."

"Lupin must be a werewolf." Mike nodded, "Friend of yours?

"Yes sort of, he was one of my Dad's best friends, in third year my defense Professor and has always been nice to me." Harry shrugged, "He kind of keeps tabs on me when he can but Dumbdork has always kept him busy with Order stuff. I'm beginning to wonder if he did that on purpose so we couldn't get closer."

"Who knows?" Mike shrugged, "If he's done anything wrong I think the Goblins will be finding it."

"What about my friends at school?" Harry asked.

"Let me see I think they had a few other names." Mike looked the list over, "Oh here, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan and a Dean Thomas all support you. They questioned a Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown but they seemed too flighty to keep a secret so they only asked what they thought of you. The two of them went on about how wonderful you are, but hadn't heard Dumbbell's rumor yet. I got this report this morning but it's a day old. I should be getting daily reports now that we've gone muggle."

"Who wants to go to the beach?" Mark asked.

"I don't have a swim suit." Dudley answered, "Do we have money for that?"

"Money isn't really an issue." Mike grinned, "If you run out we'll just get you more. But I don't think you'll run out, Gringotts is being very generous."

"Aren't they just taking money from my vault?" Harry asked.

"No yours are frozen." Mike reminded him.

"Oh, I thought he meant mine were frozen except for a small allowance that we could get." Harry said, "I don't want to spend the Goblin's money."

"They are your guardians." Mark informed him, "It is a guardian's responsibility to oversee the health and happiness of their charges. To them this is a minor cost to get rid of the great Dumb one."

"I like all the nicknames we're giving him." Dudley snickered.

"I wonder how many we can give him." Harry snorted.

"I currently have a list with ten names on it." Mike waved his wand, "Dumbo, Dumbdork, Dumbbell, the great Dumb one, Dumby, Dumber than me, Dumb as a rock, Dumb as a door, Dumb and Dumber and last but not least, and my personal favorite…"

"You can't say that one." Mark interrupted, "They're just kids."

"Yes you can, tell us." Harry tried.

"No, absolutely not, you can't hear that one it's bad." Mark disagreed.

"Oh come on you've got me curious now." Harry whined.

"Maybe when you're older." Mike grinned and changed the subject, "Aren't we going to the beach?"

*******Point of View change**********

Albus sat in his seat as he surveyed his domain. The Wizengamot was preparing to leave, via portkey, to the offices of the International Confederation of Wizards, which was just another part of his domain. There they were to be part of a ceremony to celebrate the demise of Voldemort. He was sure he could convince everyone that he played the major role in the defeat of the dark wizard. With Harry permanently out of the picture no one would be able to contradict him. Dursley was a stupid whale but he had his uses, even if he didn't understand what was making him do it. When they arrived Albus stepped away from the group and went to his customary seat as the Supreme Mugwump.

"I'm sorry Sir." He was rebuffed from his seat, "For today you need to sit with the British contingent. This isn't a normal meeting."

"Fine." He wasn't pleased he much preferred the place of honor rather than being mixed in with the others. He returned to the seat and they began. The ICW host droned on about the evil of Voldemort and how the British wizards finally were able to stop him for good, before he reached out for the rest of the world. Then they invited Albus to tell them how they did it. He went on with a slightly embellished tail of how they got to the point where they could kill Voldemort, "Then with a spell I designed I forced him out of young Harry's body before he was ready and that caused him to have a seizure and die."

"The Goblin Nation begs to differ." The head of the contingent stood.

"What?" Albus glared at the beast, he hated the fact that he hadn't been able to kick them out of the ICW. Some nations actually thought they were near human enough to be there. He felt it was disgusting.

"The Goblin Nation begs to differ with your account of the event." He repeated, "We have evidence that you did nothing at all except sit there and watch Mr. Potter fight for his life."

"That's preposterous." Fudge yelled from their box, "That obnoxious, publicity seeking brat isn't capable of stopping a hippogriff let alone a powerful dark wizard. He makes all that stuff up for the attention."

"Stuff like Voldemort has a body back?" the Goblin asked sarcastically, "I think we've just found out he was right about that."

"I thought this wasn't a formal meeting." Albus stated from the podium.

"We are requesting a change." The Goblin stated, "We wish to formally charge the British with many things, is the ICW agreeable with the change?"

"I am assuming you have proof?" the American representative asked, he was one of the few aware of what was really going to happen today.

"Yes we have proof." The Goblin answered, "Who will chair the proceedings?"

"I will as always." Albus declared.

"You can't." the Goblin gave the wizard a toothy smile, "You are one of those being brought up on charges."

"The second is the French delegation, Jacque Delacour." The leader of the Germen delegation stated.

"Of course." Albus nearly growled as he stepped off the podium wondering what proof the Goblins could have possible gotten that would give them the guts to try and pull this.

Jacque took the seat of the Mugwump and indicated he was ready to begin. The announcer stood, "Here ye, this session in the six hundredth and seventy fourth year of the International Confederation of Wizards is now in session. This is meeting twenty six for this year, todays date is June thirtieth."

"Chair recognizes the complaint from the Goblin Nation and asks for charges and evidence." Jacque stated turning to the delegation of Goblins.

"Gladly." The goblin stepped from his box, "I am Ragnok chief of the Goblin Nation. Albus Dumbledore specifically is being charged with abuse and neglect of a minor in his charge, stealing from a minor, attempted murder of a minor and lying to receive awards and notoriety that do not belong to him. The rest of the British Ministry for Magic is being charged as accessories on those charges. Delores Umbridge is being charged with using a dark artifact to torture students in her care. Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge are being charged as accomplices to the crime. The British Ministry for Magic is being charged as accessories. Cornelius Fudge is being charged with slander. The British Ministry for Magic is being charged as accessories. Dumbledore is not part of that charge since he was also being slandered. More charges may be leveled as the investigation continues."

"That is quite a lot." Jacque stated, "Evidence?"

Ragnok stepped back to his delegation's station and was handed a box. He stepped back to the podium and stated firmly, "I request the use of a pensieve and a committee to accompany me into the memories. We wish to view two now and the rest can be taken by the committee as there are several hours of memories."

"A summary of the two memories to be viewed please." Jacque ordered.

"The first shows Albus Dumbledore snapping a minor's wand and ordering a relative to do them harm, the memory belongs to the minor. The second shows the minor coming to Gringotts for money so that they could escape the abuse and, if Dumbledore is to be believed, the disdain of the entire British Magical society." Ragnok knew he had their attention now and Dumbledore was looking very angry.

"I demand to see this falsified evidence for myself." Albus yelled.

"It will be viewed by the committee and then it can be viewed by the British Delegation." Jacque stated, "That is standard procedure Dumbledore and you know it."

"Yes of course forgive me. The very idea that anyone would do something like that to a child sickens me. Manufactured evidence that makes it look like it was me made me lose my temper." He tried to bring back his grandfatherly mask.

"Try to keep it in check." Jacque glared at him, "We all feel the same way. If the evidence is manufactured the perpetrator will be prosecuted."

While the committee was preparing itself to enter the pensieve Dumbledore was busy sending patronus messages. The American delegation was watching him avidly. Once Dumbledore settled back to argue with his delegation one of the Americans notified the nearest ICW guard.

*******Point of View change**********

Kingsley Shacklebolt jumped from his desk and started to run from the Ministry, "Tonks, come on!"

Tonks jumped and followed him only tripping once. She caught up to him soon enough and asked, "What's going on?"

"Albus thinks Harry is in trouble we have to check on him." Kingsley grabbed her and apparated away. When they landed he continued as if they hadn't just jumped several dozen miles, "He's at that ICW conference and a seer told him to check."

"Let's hurry." Tonks had wanted to check up on Harry since her talk with the Goblins but they wouldn't allow her to. They were afraid it would hurt their investigation. They promised her he was safe.

In a matter of moments they were knocking on the door to number four Privet Drive. Petunia answered the door looking like she had been crying, "Did Dumbledore send you?"

"Yes." Kingsley answered, "Can we come in?"

"Yes I'm sure you'll need to see the scene of the crime." She sniffled, "Of course we aren't sure where the scene is ourselves."

"Can you tell me what happened?" Tonks asked gently.

"The freak kidnapped Dudders." She wailed.


	5. Chapter 5

"What?" Kingsley was confused, "Who was kidnapped."

"My little Dudders." She was sniffling again.

"Your son?" Tonks asked.

"Yes my poor little Diddy. That horrible freak was left here and the freak took him. Who knows what he'll do to my baby." Petunia was crying.

"Exactly." Vernon bellowed, "Now go get that freak and make him suffer. I want Dudley back."

"Who is the freak?" Kingsley asked.

"Potter." Both adults spat the name.

"How old is your son and describe him?" Kingsley dutifully took the information.

"He's sixteen, almost six foot tall and very healthy just like Vernon." She was back to sniffing, "Although he does seem to be wasting away since he joined that awful boxing team at his school."

"There, there Pet, I'm sure he'll still be a strapping young lad when he gets back home." Vernon patted his wife's arm before glaring at the two aurors, "Won't he."

"I'm sure he will be." Tonks grumbled, "Where was the last place you saw them?"

"The freak was in the kitchen and Duddy was going out with his friends." Petunia said then demanded, "That was a week ago and we sent a letter, why didn't you get here earlier?"

"Harry and Dudley have been missing for a week?" Kingsley asked.

"Yes." Petunia answered but the two aurors were already moving past them to the kitchen, "Dudders didn't go into the kitchen why are you starting there?"

"If this was the last place you saw Harry we should try to trace what he did." Kingsley let them think he was going to believe that Harry had hurt their son. It was the quickest way to find out where he went or was taken. Anything else he said or did would just cause the muggles to slow them down. Too bad Dumbledore's seer was a week too late. He then wondered where the Dursley's letter was.

*******Point of View change**********

Minerva rushed to the Hogwarts hospital, as soon as she made it through the doors she started calling, "Poppy, where are you?"

"In here. What are you so rattled about?" the school healer asked as she left her office.

"Albus said Harry may be hurt. Kingsley and Tonks went to get him and bring him here." She stated quickly, "I don't know what may have happened or how long they'll be."

"You barely caught me." Poppy said as she turned back to her office, "Five more minutes and I would have been gone. I hope the boy is alright, he's been through so much."

Just as Poppy reached her door a silver mist flew in and resolved itself into a lynx, "Harry isn't here. He's been missing a week and the Dursleys said they notified Dumbledore as soon as it happened. We'll be there shortly."

Minerva turned and yelled back as she left, "Do you mind staying for a while?"

"No go find the poor boy." Poppy went back into her office.

Minerva made it to the entrance about the same time as Kingsley and Tonks, "What did you find?"

"We found traces of blood, Harry's blood all over the floor." Tonks said, "Its spread out over a large area. I don't think Harry is the one that took Dudley."

"You think maybe Dudley hurt Harry?" she gasped.

"I think the other two are more likely." Kingsley stated, "They only referred to him as the freak."

"I tried to tell Albus they were the worst kind of muggles." She fumed, "Now look at what they've done. If I get my hands on them…"

"You better not finish that." Tonks warned, "We are on an official investigation. We turned in the missing persons report to Gawain before we came here."

"Albus is at that blasted conference." She huffed, "I'm just going to have to go get him."

"Be quick about it the trail is already a week old." Kingsley stated.

Within an hour Minerva found herself in an office inside ICW headquarters being questioned by Jacque Delacour of France while several others watched, "Why have you come today?"

"We have an emergency at home. I need Albus to come help." She insisted.

"What is the nature of the emergency?" he asked.

"One of our students has gone missing." She didn't want to waste time here, "Aurors contacted me earlier and we are being brought into the search."

"Would this happen to be Harry Potter?" Jacque asked.

"Yes how did you know?" she asked.

"We are currently holding a trial here and he has been mentioned." Jacque stated, "But your aurors should talk to the Goblins about what they have seen."

"What's going on? If you know something about Harry I demand you tell me." She was getting angry.

"As I said we are holding a trial and I cannot tell you anything." Jacque stated, "It is just one student why do you care?"

"It is not just any student." She huffed, "He recently killed You Know Who and is on the hit list of many dark wizards. We have to find him and make sure he is safe."

"So you only care because he did your dirty work for you?" Jacque sneered.

"That is ludicrous, Harry is from my house and I care what happens to him regardless of his status as a hero. I only stated that because it is the truth." Minerva was very angry now, "I want Harry back so we can make sure he is alive and well."

"You want him in your school next year?" Jacque queried.

"Of course I do. He may have defeated You Know Who but he is still a boy who needs an education." She answered hotly but then sobbed, "We've already lost his parents I don't think I could stand to lose him too."

After a nod from the Goblin in attendance Jacque placed a hand on her arm, "You need not worry. He sought help and refuge and received it. See the Goblins at Gringotts."

The delegation in the room stood and returned to the trial leaving Minerva gaping at them. After a few moments she activated her portkey and found several more worried pairs of eyes than she had been expecting when she landed. She sighed and took a seat pulling out her bottle of scotch from a drawer and producing several glasses.

"Kingsley, I was instructed to tell you to talk to the Goblins." She poured three glasses, "Evidentially, Harry went to them for help. That is all I know. Please let us know when you know more."

"Did Albus tell you this?" he asked.

"No Jacque Delacour of the French delegation told me after a quite harsh questioning from them." She took a drink before continuing, "They are having a trial at the ICW headquarters and we can't get Albus out. I don't understand why none of the British delegation was allowed out but those others were."

"We'll let you know as soon as we can." Kingsley promised and the two aurors left as Minerva handed glasses to Filius and Poppy.

"About the goblins, what did Jacque tell you exactly?" Filius asked.

"He said, you need not worry. He sought help and refuge and received it. See the Goblins at Gringotts." Minerva repeated.

"He sought out political asylum." Filius sat back shocked.

"Asylum from who?" Minerva asked equally shocked.

"From us." Filius said, "If he felt unsafe at home he should have come to us. If he felt unsafe from Death Eaters he should have come to us. To go to the Goblins means he felt unsafe from us."

"Why?" Poppy gasped.

"That is the million galleon question." Filius sighed, "Why indeed."

"Minerva." Her door opened and Snape stuck his head in, "Sorry didn't realize you were having a meeting."

"Come in Severus, maybe you can provide some insight." She stated conjuring a glass and pouring a drink for the potions master.

"Dare I ask on what has happened?" He took a seat.

"Kingsley and Tonks went to visit Harry today. He's missing, has been for a week and they found large traces of his blood in the kitchen of his home." She missed the beginning of his snarky look.

By the time she finished his look had changed to shock, "Large traces of his blood?"

"I think he said traces of his blood spread over a large area." She sniffed, "We think he went to the Goblins for help."

"Goblins?" he asked stunned.

"Yes we're trying to figure out why he didn't come to us." She sighed.

"After this year I can certainly see why he wouldn't go to the ministry." Severus offered.

The others agreed with a nod before Poppy said, "But why not get in touch with us? He knows we'll look out for him."

"Does he?" Filius questioned with only a slight glance at Severus, "I have to wonder about it. We allowed a boy with only a fifth year education to defeat a mad man while we sat back and watched."

"I thought Albus did it." Severus said, "He told me he used a spell of his own to force the Dark Lord from Potter's body and it killed him when he did it."

"No magic was used on Mr. Potter to eject the spirit of You Know Who." Poppy disagreed, "Mr. Potter nearly emptied his core trying to do it. An exorcism like that would take hours. Not the ten minutes that the Aurors were watching. Tonks told me about it. It was obvious Potter was fighting him alone and it was horrendously painful. That's why he was unconscious for weeks. Believe me that wasn't faked."

"Why two different stories?" Severus asked, "Where is Dumbledore anyway, didn't he want to deal with Potter's theatrics?"

"The ICW is having a trial and he can't come back." Minerva sighed.

"What is their trial about?" Severus asked.

"They wouldn't tell me but said Harry was being mentioned." She sighed again and decided she was doing far too much of it today.

Sometime later a silvery substance flew into the room and resolved itself into a werewolf, "You are not going to believe this. Open your floo I'm coming through."

*******Point of View change**********

"What's in that tube?" Harry asked Dudley.

"Sunscreen, don't want to get burned." He replied.

"Burned on what?" Harry had never been to the beach.

"Sun burn, didn't mum ever put any on you when you did yard work?" he gaped and then shook his head, "No of course she didn't. Stupid question sorry, you put it on your skin and it blocks the sun."

"That's neat." Harry looked at the bottle, "Is there enough for both of us or do I need to buy my own?"

"There is enough for both of us for a few weeks." Dudley grinned and tried not to laugh.

"Are you two done?" Mark asked.

"Yes, can we go to the beach now?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Go get in the car and we'll go." Mark laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Are those bathing suits?" Harry asked once they reached the beach, "They look more like bits of string."

"Hence the name string bikini." Mike sighed with a smile.

"I think you're enjoying your job a little too much." Harry chuckled, "I'm headed for the water."

"Careful this is the ocean. They have slightly bigger things to take bites out of you." Mark warned the two boys.

"Being careful is my middle name." Harry laughed as he raced Dudley to the water.

Mark and Mike shared a chuckle at the girls whose heads were nearly torn off by their quick turn to watch the two boys. Harry wasn't scrawny by any means and Dudley had trimmed down though he was still big. One was dark haired the other blond, most every girl between the ages of twelve and twenty were watching.

"You know this might not have been quite as brilliant of an idea as you thought." Mark commented.

"I know but we aren't staying long enough for them to gain any confidence with the girls." Mike replied, "I hope."

They watched as one of the girls approached the boys as they were coming in on the boogie boards, "I don't think it's the boy's confidence we need to worry about."

They watched as the boys looked at each other before shaking their heads at the girl. She shrugged and walked back towards the beach. The boys watched her go then turned back both let out the same sigh before heading back into the water. It was nearly an hour before the teens came back.

"Put on more sunscreen." Mark ordered right away.

"That's what we're here for." Dudley answered.

"What did the girl want?" Mike asked with a cheeky grin on his face.

"She invited us to a party." Harry shrugged, "We didn't think it would be safe so we told her we already had plans with our family tonight."

"Good answer." Mark agreed.

"It's too bad though." Dudley grinned, "She really liked you Harry."

"I thought it was you she was ogling." Harry laughed at Dudley's face.

Marks phone rang so the boys headed back to the water. Hours later they returned to the condo and waited for the delivery of the dinner Mark ordered. It arrived finally and they sat down to eat. Mike waited until they were finished before steering the two of them to the living room.

"You have more news?" Harry asked as soon as he took his seat.

"We do." Mike grinned, "Auror's were investigating a report today that you kidnapped Dudley."

"What?" both boys asked together.

"Let me start from the beginning. First the Goblins attended a celebration at the ICW headquarters that was congratulating Dumby on a job well done. He's claiming he stopped Voldesnort not you." Mike explained.

"How is he claiming to have done it?" Harry asked.

"I quote, then with a spell I designed I forced him out of young Harry's body before he was ready and that caused him to have a seizure and die." Mike rolled his eyes as he said it, "Goblins are part of the ICW as a quasi-member since they are humanoid and some countries view them as equals. Anyway the head Goblin there, his name is Ragnok stood and said we beg to differ with your account of the event."

"I wish I could have seen his face." Harry grinned evilly.

"You will Ragnok wants to see you when you return so you can see it in his pensieve." Mike grinned with him, "Anyway, the Goblins called for a change in format. They called for the celebration to cease and a formal hearing to take place. They set out the charges, produced the pensieve memories and they started a trial. Goblin Nation and Harry Potter Vs. British Ministry for Magic, with three individuals charged in greater degrees."

"Dumbdork and who else?" Harry asked.

"Fudge and Umbridge." Mark answered, "They even left the charges open in case more turned up during the investigation."

"You can do that?" Dudley asked.

"It's a little known law that hasn't been used in decades at least." Mark exclaimed, "Possibly centuries."

"Down law boy, down." Mike received a smack on the back of his head for his comment, "Anyway Dumbdork evidentially sent a couple patronus messages including one to an auror friend telling him that you might be injured and to check on you. The American delegation was watching for him to try something while the rest of the delegations were wrangling spots to view the pensieve. They have informed the ICW guards and a charge for doing magic during a session will be added to his charges."

"Do you know which auror?" Harry asked.

"What's an auror?" Dudley asked.

"Law officer." Mark answered while Mike dug in his notes.

"Tall black man, bald and a woman with pink hair." Mike found the descriptions.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks." Harry nodded, "I would have thought he would have sent Moody."

"Why does the woman only have one name?" Dudley asked.

"If I say her first name I would bet she could pass through any protective wards, across any distance to hex me for saying it." Harry grinned, "It is really bad. So what did they do?"

"They visited Privet drive and received the report that you kidnapped Dudley." Mike grinned for a moment before it faded, "Instead they found traces of your blood in a large pattern on the floor. So they immediately realized foul play and started an investigation. The second patronus message Dumby sent was to our Aunty."

"Professor McGonagall." Harry nodded, "She's the deputy Headmistress."

"She was told to get the hospital ready to see you." Mark explained, "When the two aurors arrived empty handed she headed to the ICW conference to bring Dumb as a duck home."

"I don't have that name, good one." Mike pulled his paper and added the name.

"Why was she getting him?" Dudley asked.

"To help look for you." Mark explained, "No one knows what he has done and we've not found many who would agree with him and his treatment of you. It's looking like you'll be able to return home and possibly even school if you want to."

"Dudley however is a different story." Mike said, "Gringotts is working to find him a school where his parent cannot get near him. He will continue to be under our protection for some time."

"What about summers?" Harry asked.

"Unless something changes you will both be returning to us next summer." Mark answered, "We already volunteered."

"Are the aurors still running around looking for Harry?" Dudley asked.

"No, thanks for getting us back on track." Mike grinned, "While Aunty was at the ICW they told her to send the aurors to Gringotts. There they have been provided the memories of your abuse and have been brought up to speed on Dumbys case. Both have asked to join the ICW investigation on this matter but have been turned down as they are noted as being close associates of Dumbduck, oh another nickname."

"Do you think they'll hinder the investigation if they're on the team?" Harry asked concerned, he liked both aurors.

"No, this is standard procedure. Friends don't investigate friends even if they are mad at them." Mark answered.

"They're mad at him?" Harry asked.

"The Goblins said the word was livid." Mike answered, "Like we said, you'll be welcomed home."

"You will be welcomed home too." Harry told Dudley, "They think I've kidnapped you so they don't know you came willingly."

"Doesn't matter, I won't go back to that." Dudley sighed, "It disgusted me that he was so willing to kill you. I can't even picture him wanting to. It just seems so out of character. He'd call you freak and boy and say terrible things but… he's never even hit you before."

"What are you thinking?" Mark asked and made the other two look at Mike.

"Out of character behavior usually points to interference." He commented.

"Imperious curse?" Harry asked.

"Possibly, I'll let the Goblins know." Mike agreed.


	6. Chapter 6

"He told Dursley to get rid of Harry?" Minerva gasped.

"It was terrible, the look on Harry's face, he was crushed." Tonks couldn't stand any longer and collapsed in a chair, "It was the worst thing I've ever seen."

"Why didn't Potter defend himself?" Severus asked no sneering edge in his tone at all.

"Dumbledore snapped his wand." She whispered in reply.

"He left him defenseless and told them to kill him." Severus rubbed his head, "Is he dead then?"

"No Vernon was laughing and telling Dudley they'd finish off Harry together in a father son bonding moment." Tonks looked up at the potions master, "Dudley pretended to leave and then came back and helped him escape. The Goblins have taken custody of both of them and are hiding them somewhere."

"Oh, thank goodness." Minerva breathed a sigh of relief with Filius and Poppy.

Severus also looked relieved but didn't say anything for a moment. He took a deep breath and looked to the others, "Has it always been this way?"

"No, they told the Goblins about a lot of abuse but this is the first time they hit him like this." She sniffed, "Before it was mostly verbal abuse. The exception was the starvation and…"

"What?" Severus asked in dread.

"His bedroom for ten years was the cupboard under the stairs. They would lock him in for days at a time." She whispered, "When he turned eleven they moved him to the smallest bedroom. The door had multiple locks and a cat flap to shove food through. He was let out once a day to use the bathroom."

Tears were flowing down Minerva and Poppy's faces. Everyone was appalled at the life the boy had lived. Severus' face had turned stonier the more Tonks had spoken.

"And then he came to school and was treated badly by me." Severus dropped his head into his hands, "I can't believe I didn't see this."

"None of us did." Minerva sniffled, "We all saw the boy hero we wanted to see."

"Except I saw another arrogant Potter where there wasn't one." Severus mumbled, "Lily will never forgive me."

"She will if you stop now and don't repeat your mistakes." Filius encouraged him, "You Know Who is gone so you don't have to play a bad guy any longer. Let it go and be happy."

"I'd be happy not teaching." Severus stated, "But I think we'll be finding enough replacement teachers this year I'll wait one more."

"How solid is the evidence of Dumbledore's guilt." Minerva sat up at his statement.

"Rock solid, I can't see any way he can get out of this." Tonks turned toward her.

"You and I need to meet the Governors." She said, "I can't see them bringing him back as Headmaster after the accusations I'm sure he's facing."

"Do you know the accusations?" Filius was curious.

"They said attempted murder, abuse and neglect and accomplice to Umbrige torturing students." She said, "I don't know if that's everything or not."

"Accomplice to Umbridge for torturing students or Potter?" Severus looked up from his hands.

"Forty students have come forward all of them belonged to some club Harry had formed." Tonks shrugged.

"Dumbledore's Army." Minerva sighed, "I bet they change the name this year."

"Let's keep them from having to form it this year." Filius replied, "Find a good teacher."

"Professor McGonagall, these are serious allegations." John Deerborn head of the board of Governors stated, "Do you have any proof."

"He is on trial with the ICW right now. The Goblins gave enough proof to the aurors that they contacted the ICW to offer their help in the investigation to see if there are any other criminal activities." Minerva said, "The evidence is overwhelming. We don't think there is any way for him to get out of this."

"What are the charges?" Narcissa Malfoy had taken her husband's place on the board when he got arrested for being a death eater.

"From what we've been told he is charged with abuse and neglect of a minor, stealing from a minor and attempted murder." Tonks informed them, "They have refused to give us anything more on him. However the Goblins informed us they have pulled his guardianship of Harry Potter due to evidence of mishandling."

"Mishandling how?" another board member asked.

"Mr. Potter's relatives are also being charged with abuse and neglect. They won't tell us more than that. Dumbledore forced him to return to them every year even though I heard Mr. Potter ask not to return, he kept saying they hated him." Tonks replied.

"Is Dumbledore the only one being charged?" John was asking most of the questions.

"No, Fudge and Umbridge have been sited specifically and the entire ministry is being counted as accessories." She replied, "They have not brought up the Board of Governors yet. But with Umbridge's charge being torturing her students we think it may be a matter of time."

"So it would be in our best interest to distance ourselves from them." John nodded in agreement, "Does anyone have anything to add?"

"I think he should have been forced out years ago." Marianna Zabini declared, "But this time I believe it is inevitable."

"Minerva, are you willing to take the position?" John asked.

"I am willing." She looked at the man, "But whomever you pick will need to find a new defense teacher. If I am selected I will also need a transfiguration professor. Severus Snape has also given us one year to find a replacement for him."

"Did he give a reason?" Narcissa asked.

"He doesn't enjoy teaching." She replied, "He was only in the job to keep his pretense as a spy. Now that the need for that is gone he would like to leave but has said he will wait one more year to make it easier on the new school Head."

"Would he stay for the defense job?" John asked, "He has wanted it for years."

"I will ask him if you wish." Minerva felt like the meeting was going rather well.

"We will let you know by tomorrow if you will be Headmistress or not." John dismissed Minerva and Tonks, "If it is not you we will have a replacement by the end of the week. Now if Mr. Snape will stay longer he can have the defense job. If he is only staying a year then leave him in potions."

"I will let him know." Minerva and Tonks left the meeting in better spirits then when they had entered.

*******Point of View change**********

"I've got some very cool news." Mark pulled out a letter, "Aunt Minnie just wrote she's been promoted to Headmistress. Hogwarts didn't wait for the verdict to come from ICW they've tossed Dumbbunny out on his big ears."

"How many nicknames are we up to now?" Dudley glanced at Mike as he pulled out his paper and wrote down the newest one.

"Twenty seven." Mike said tapping the paper with his wand and making it disappear, "Well Harry that takes care of your school for next year."

"Anything on my parents?" Dudley asked.

"Not yet." Mike answered, "They are planning on pulling them in for questioning in the next day or two. Relax you've only been gone little more than a week and some things take time."

"This has been the longest two weeks of my life." Harry rolled his shoulders, "How much longer do we have on the beach?"

"We're leaving in the morning." Mark informed him.

"Have you made up your mind where we're going next?" Dudley knew they wouldn't tell them where yet.

"Yes, I think you'll be happy with it." Mike looked away.

"Why do you think we'll hate it?" Harry grinned at the lie.

"The next little while you'll be working on school stuff with some tutors we've hired." Mark said, "He thinks you'll hate it because he hates the idea of it."

"I don't really want to but I know I need the help so I'm ok with it." Dudley shrugged.

"I need practice with my new wand. I can't wait to do magic again." Harry smiled, "I've missed doing it."

"You will be covering everything including potions." Mike said, "England's potions scores are below average worldwide."

"It's the teacher; he has to split his time between spying and teaching." Harry said, "With Volde gone he can concentrate on teaching now."

"Why do we have twenty some odd nicknames for Dumby and only two for Voldesnort?" Dudley asked with a slight look of confusion on his face.

"Volde is dead so we can forget him. He's not worth our time." Harry waved him off, "For Dumbdumb it's just fun and ever so easy to make him look stupid."

"Maybe we can do a poll in the paper to have people pick the best nickname." Mike laughed at the thought.

"It's late we've got an early morning and some traveling." Mark shooed them out of the room, "Pack what you can tonight."

Harry put out his pajamas and a change of clothes for the morning before he began to pack the rest away. It seemed like everything was right within reach so it didn't take him long to pack. When he finished he turned and found Dudley watching him from the doorway.

"Can you do that for me too?" he asked.

"Do what?" Harry was puzzled.

"You just held out your hand and things just jumped into it." Dudley told him, "Didn't you even realize you were doing it?"

"No I just thought everything was in reach." Harry shrugged, "Come on let's see if I can do it again."

Dudley was packed up in no time with Harry's help and both were in bed and asleep by the time Mark came to check on them. He shook his head at the lingering traces of magic in both rooms and then went back to his brother. They two of them lounged on the balcony overlooking the ocean as they chatted lightly about nothing of importance. The next morning both boys were shocked when the portkey stopped.

"University of Missouri." Harry turned towards Mike after reading the sign, "Is it muggle?"

"Both actually." He shrugged, "Welcome to Kansas City Missouri. Lots to do and see here, you'll be working and having fun."

"Any amusement parks?" Harry had loved Universal Studios, Sea World and parts of Disney.

"Yes they have a decent one called Worlds of Fun." Mike answered, "They have a couple water parks too, a race track that's on the Nascar circuit, lots of movie places and very cool shopping areas, both magical and muggle."

"Not to mention the cowboy stuff, several museums and professional sports." Mark offered, "We are scheduled to take in a baseball game next week."

"What's Nascar?" Harry asked.

"Car races." Mark said, "Mike loves it but I'm not that into it. You get fifty or so cars going more than a hundred miles an hour on a circle track. The first one to finish all the laps wins."

"How many laps?" Dudley asked.

"Depends on the race." Mike shrugged.

"You'll be staying here at the university. I'm staying with Dudley in the muggle portion and Mike will be staying with you Harry. I'll say I'm sorry now." Mark grinned, "You'll be in the magical dorms. Classes will run from eight until three then we're free for the afternoon."

"Dudley they'll work on bringing you up to the level you are supposed to be at." Mark told him as they moved towards the administration building, "We'll be using your fake id for classes and Gringotts will change all your documents over to the correct name at a later time."

"Harry you will also be using your alias." Mike informed him, "You'll be working on the areas you lack and any new areas you want. You can also take some muggle classes if you want."

In no time at all the two of them had been admitted to the school and sent to their respective dorms. There they unpacked and then headed to the entrance to meet for lunch. Mark and Mike had already decided where to take them and they had a car waiting to drive them.

"This is the Plaza." Mike waved his arm at all the buildings, "We can see a movie, shop, eat or just walk and look."

"Eat!" both boys claimed at the same time.

"Ever been to a Japanese steak house?" Mark grinned.

*******Point of View change**********

An owl flew in at breakfast and landed in front of Minerva. She didn't recognize it so she checked the letter for spells before pulling it off the bird. Her smile grew as she read what looked to be a very long letter.

"Good news I hope." Filius quipped.

"It's from my nephews." She smiled, "They are congratulating me on my new position."

"It's nice to have caring family members." He replied with a smile, "How are Mark and Mike doing in America?"

"Fine, it says they're really busy with a client at the moment." She smiled, "Some important person that they were worried wouldn't listen to them. But it turns out the person is very friendly and more than willing to follow their rules."

"Wouldn't that be nice." Filius stated with his voice full of sarcasm, "They're into security aren't they?"

"Yes they provide security for famous and important people when they have big events." She replied, "Once in a while they have a private case like this one that means personal security until a stalker or whatever is caught."

"Too bad they don't live here Gringotts could have used them for Harry." Filius offered.

Poppy sighed, "I hope he's ok."

"Any luck finding a new transfiguration professor?" Pomona asked.

"Yes as a matter of fact, Gringotts has allowed Bill Weasley to take a year off and come teach." She smiled, "Severus is staying at potions he doesn't want to return next year."

"What about defense?" Filius asked.

"I asked Nymphadora Tonks to take a sabbatical from the ministry and she is considering it." Minerva smiled.

"When will we know for sure?" Pomona asked, "I so loved having Ms. Tonks in my house.

"She'll let me know by the end of the week." She smiled happy with the way things were going, "Bill is going to take Head of Gryffindor too. I'm going to continue to look for a potions master. I'm sure Severus would love to leave early if I found one."

"Anything new on Dumbledore?" Filius asked.

"Nothing that I've been told." She sighed, "Hagrid is very upset. He always thought Dumbledore was his hero. I have been thinking of a way to cheer him up so I'm looking to see if he can get a wand again since it's been proven he didn't open the Chamber of Secrets either time."

"That should cheer him up." Poppy agreed, "I wonder why Dumbledore never tried?"

A voice interrupted their conversation when a silvery linx appeared in the room, "They've made a decision on the current charges and will make it known publicly soon. We do not know where yet."

Another owl flew in through the window and landed in front on McGonagall just as Kingsley's voice faded away. She opened it and read it quickly before standing, "We have guests arriving within the hour. Pomona would you see the elves about serving a full tea in the Great Hall? Filius gather everyone who is here. I'll go let them in the gates."

"Who is it?" Poppy asked.

"The ICW's top staff, they want to make the announcement from here." She smoothed down her robes before heading out the door, "Be ready in thirty minutes."

Both professors quickly left to attend to the jobs they had been given. Poppy volunteered to help Filius gather the professors and ghosts. Everyone was prepared when Minerva returned to the hall with an entourage. The tables had been arranged into a u shape and had enough seating for everyone. The professors took each side and the ICW staff took the top.

"Professors of Hogwarts thank you for seeing us." Jacque Delacour greeted them all, "May I introduce you to the ICW members who are accompanying me today."

The lead delegates from seven countries were introduced as well as each of the professors. Tea was served and everyone got comfortable. It took several minutes before they all settled in and the talking began.

"Minerva may I congratulate you on your new position." Jacque smiled broadly.

"Thank you Sir." She responded.

"We were aware of your actions since you learned of the charges." He stated, "I am wondering why you moved so quickly?"

"Once I learn what at least some of the charges were I didn't think he should be allowed to be around children any longer." She replied, "I did what I thought was best for the school and its students. I agreed to be Headmistress when the school's Board of Governors asked."

"Are you happy with the Board? Weren't they the ones that hired Umbridge?" Jacque asked.

"The Board that hired her is mostly gone." She informed him, "Four of the five who voted to accept her as a professor are now in Azkaban for the crime of being a Death Eater. Their replacements seemed to be more concerned with raising our level of education rather than making political moves. The fifth who voted for her was sickened when he found out how she acted."

"Have you been able to find competent teachers?" he asked.

"I believe so." She tried to hide her nervousness, "William Weasley has been hired for Transfiguration and he is taking a year off from his current job as a curse breaker for Gringotts. Nymphadora Tonks for Defense Against the Dark Arts, is an Auror and has been granted leave from the Ministry to teach. I am still looking for a more permanent solution but I have twelve months in which to do so."

"I believe both of them were part of Dumbledore's group called the Order of the Phoenix were they not?" Jacque asked.

"They were, as was I and several other teachers." She agreed, "I do not think that makes us all bad people. We are not the only people who fell into thinking that Dumbledore was working for the best possible solution. Not one of us would have thought him capable of putting a child in an abusive home."

"I myself never thought he would either." Jacque agreed, "Are you aware that I already knew who your new teachers were?"

"I assumed that you did and just wanted my reasoning." She smiled slightly more relaxed now, "Did our decisions find favor with you then?"

"They do." He smiled in return, "I believe you will do admirably. Now would you be agreeable to holding a press conference here at the school to announce our findings?"

"Who will be invited?" she queried.

"Reporters from various media sources, the top of your new Ministry officials and a few more ICW delegates are being invited." He explained, "We will be sending out the location as soon as we have one."

"Rita Skeeter is not allowed on the premises. She was banned two years ago by Dumbledore. I agreed with it then and have no intention of changing it now." She stated primly, "Otherwise all of those people are agreeable. May I ask if the accused will be present?"

"No he will not. He is currently in a secure location." Jacque replied, "May we carry out our plans?"

"Please do, Hogwarts and her staff would be honored to be the home of your press conference." She nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well done Harry." His potions instructor complimented, "I have no idea why you don't have a better grade than you do."

"I know why." Harry grimaced, "My potions professor went to school with my father. They didn't get along and now he attributes all my father's faults to me. I don't do as well when he's standing behind me just waiting for me to mess up."

"No not a pleasant environment for a class." The man agreed, "Well I'm done with you for today, off to your next class and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you Sir." Harry shook his hand, "What should I read up on for tomorrow?"

"I think we'll stick to fifth year potions so you should be familiar with everything." He said, "I haven't decided on a potion yet."

"Ok, see you tomorrow." Harry left the room grinning and met Mike in the hall.

"How did you do?"

"I started with fifth year potions." He replied, "It seems to be going great. He thinks if I need to retake my owl that I'll do fine. Most of my errors were in preparation instead of execution."

"Sounds fascinating." Mike grimaced.

"Have you heard from Mark and Dudley today?" Harry asked as they walked back to their dorm.

"Yep, Mark wants to eat barbeque for dinner." Mike grinned, "Kansas City has several well-known places that are really good. He likes all of them so we'll probably let you two pick out which one you want to try."

"Does it matter which one we choose if they're all barbeque?" Harry wondered.

"Each one is slightly different. They have unique sauces and ways of cooking the meats." Mike rubbed his stomach as it growled, "It's very technical but all I know is its good."'

"Sounds like we better hurry before the monster in your stomach fights its way out and devours the rest of us." Harry laughed.

"No way, you don't have any fat to flavor the meat with." Mike laughed with him as he pulled out his phone and called his brother.

Later as they sat at the restaurant eating they began to discuss the weekend. Harry was the one that brought it up, "So what fun thing are we planning to do this weekend?"

"Well, let's see, we've done the baseball game, amusement park, shopping and more shopping." Mike grumbled the last bit, "How about quidditch?"

"They have quidditch?" Harry huffed, "You're holding out on me."

"What's quidditch?" Dudley asked.

"Wizard sport played with three balls and seven players all on brooms." Mark shook his head, "I hate watching it because I know I'll never get to play. Looks like loads of fun though."

"Maybe we shouldn't do that then." Harry didn't want to upset the other two, "How about a movie?"

"How long does a quidditch game last?" Dudley asked.

"Usually it lasts between two to eight hours." Mike replied, "But they've been known to last much longer on occasion."

"In school I played in one game that lasted five minutes." Harry grinned, "I caught the snitch before anyone could even make a goal."

"Watching you play quidditch would be neat but an eight hour game sounds a little long." Dudley smiled ruefully.

"Well…" Mike thoughtfully scratched his chin, "We could see if my school buddy is available."

"I don't know he's rather rough." Mark replied, "Besides isn't his team playing this weekend?"

"They don't play until Sunday." Mike waved him off, "They'll be practicing Saturday for a few hours. I'll see if I can get us in to watch practice. Do you have your broom?"

"No I left it at Gringotts." Harry replied, "I didn't want to take the chance of losing it."

"What kind do you have?" Mark asked.

"A Firebolt, my Godfather gave it to me a few years ago." Harry frowned, he hadn't thought of Sirius for a while and he felt bad, "He died this spring."

"We were briefed on that." Mike nodded, "Do you still want to see the practice?"

"Yes!" Harry perked back up, "As long as Dudley and Mark don't mind."

"I don't." Dudley shrugged, "As long as it doesn't last for eight hours that is."

"No we'll only stay an hour or two." Mark grinned, "We'll drag them off if we need to."

A few days later Mike and Harry were grinning from ear to ear as they walked into the arena to watch the Kansas City Tornados practice for their quidditch game scheduled for the next day. Mark and Dudley shared a glance and a roll of the eyes at their excitement. The four of them took seats and waited for the players to emerge. They didn't have long before the group trouped out onto the field with broomsticks in hand. They entered right below Harry's feet and he leaned over the rail to get a good look at them.

"Hey, Mike." One of the men yelled, "Glad you could make it."

"Well I'm in town for a day or two and I know you'd hate me if I couldn't come by and say hi." He called.

"You brought friends." He commented, "Want to introduce us?"

"You guys want to be down on the field and meet the team?" Mike turned to them.

"Yes!" Harry grinned.

"I think I'll stay up here." Dudley stated cautiously.

The two wizards went down to meet the team while the others stayed in the stands. Both Harry and Dudley were under magical disguises for the day. No one wanted to take the chance that either of them would be recognized. All their professors only knew their false identities and they had hidden Harry's scar the entire time. But the quidditch team was familiar with a more international setting so they could probably identify Harry. To make sure he was safe they even changed their accents for the day.

"Well Mike old boy who do we have here?" his friend asked.

"This is Aaron." Mike gave Harry's false name, "He plays quidditch for his school team but don't ask which one."

"Security business." The man caught on quickly and reached out to shake Harry's hand.

"Right in one." He replied, "Aaron this is Doc Holiday. His name isn't really Doc but he hates his name so he goes by the famous old west cowboy's name."

"Nice to meet you." Harry grinned, "I'm sorry we won't be able to watch your game tomorrow."

"That's too bad, but at least you can watch us practice." Doc smiled back, "What position do you play and how good are you?"

"Seeker, so far the only games I've lost were the ones that ended after I was beaten unconscious." Harry laughed.

"You feel like going against me?" Doc said, "I've lost a fair few but I don't mind giving you a run for your money."

"I doubt it will be much of a run for you. I know I'm nowhere near professional quality." Harry agreed, "But I love to fly any time, even if I'm about to be humiliated."

"What kind of broom are you used to riding?" Doc asked as he led the way to the practice brooms.

"A firebolt, my Godfather bought it for me for a combined gift of a decade's worth of missed Christmas and birthdays." Harry grinned at the man's look of shock, "He'd been away."

"What I wouldn't have given to ride one of these as a teen." He pulled out a firebolt and handed it over, "Hey Mitch, let loose a practice snitch will you?"

"Cut the kid some slack, don't go all out." The man Harry assumed was Mitch said as he released the ball.

"Please don't." Harry said as they mounted, "I would love to see how much work I really need to do."

"Well let's go then." Mitch grinned and the two of them took off.

Harry spotted the ball and was off. Doc was right beside him as they chased after the ball. Meanwhile on the ground, Mike had returned to his seat with Mark and Dudley. Together they watched as Harry nearly out flew the professional. They wove in and out around each other and did all sorts of dips and dives. At one point Doc tried to push Harry out of the way but a neat barrel roll put Harry on the other side of him instead. By the time Doc caught the snitch Harry was grinning from ear to ear. Mike met them as they landed on the pitch.

"That was brilliant." Harry shook Doc's hand, "Thanks."

"It was pretty brilliant." Doc returned the hand shake, "Are you considering playing professionally when you get out of school?"

"I hadn't really thought that far ahead yet." Harry didn't know if American's had Aurors or if they were called something else so he opted for a different truth.

"Well when you're ready to think about it stop here first." Mitch stated, "That was some fine flying."

"Thanks but I'd hate to unseat anyone." Harry grimaced at the offer.

"You wouldn't unseat Doc but you'd make an excellent second string seeker." Mitch liked the kid, "Besides Doc is getting old. He only has a few more good years left."

"That's right." Doc grinned, "One thing you should know though. A normal match you would see a lot more roughing not to mention the bludgers."

"Yes I understand. I was able to watch a World Cup a few years back so I've got an idea about the rough play." Harry shook his hand again before the four of them left the arena.

"Harry, we received a letter for you today." Mark announced at breakfast a few days later.

Harry gently opened the envelope and three letters fell out. He picked the first and began to read.

_Harry_

_I've been so worried about you. Mum and Dad are too and we were all glad to hear you were safe. Sirius would be killing me right now if he was able. I should have been there for you. I shouldn't have let the idiot force you back to the muggles. I hope someday you can forgive me for not doing my cousinly duty. _

_Kingsley and I were shown the memories you and your cousin left with the goblins. I just want to assure you that no one else thinks the way he does. I don't want to throw you away. I can't wait for you to return. You won't ever go back to those horrible muggles again._

_Just so you're aware I've taken a year of leave from the aurors so next year I'll be your defense teacher. I can promise lots of in class magic and no blood quills. (I saw that memory too.) I have to end now the Goblins are only willing to let me send you a short letter. So be safe, be careful and I hope you're having fun. _

_I miss you (I'm blue literally)._

_Tonks_

"Sounds like she has a crush on someone." Mike chuckled as Harry read the letter.

"She does but it's not me." Harry laughed, "Her cousin Sirius was my Godfather. She feels like we're family. By the way she's the auror you told me about earlier with the pink hair, she's a metamorph."

"That's cool." Mike agreed.

"A what?" Dudley asked.

"She can change all sorts of things about her person." Harry explained, "When she said she's blue literally she meant she had turned her hair or clothes blue. Possibly even her skin. She does a great pig snout for a nose."

"As long as she doesn't give me one." Dudley shuddered. They then told Mark and Mike about Harry getting his Hogwarts letter.

"Dude I don't know whether to laugh or feel bad for you." Mark grimaced.

"I deserved it." Dudley said, "Besides it was the first step in an eye opening revelation that finished last summer."

"Who is the next letter from?" Mike wondered.

"Ron." Harry recognized his messy scrawl.

_Harry,_

_I was just told what happened to you. That is terrible. I knew we should have fought harder to get you here instead. I've said for years Dumbledore is mental, I just didn't know how bad it was. Mum is half out of her mind. If she ever sees Dumbledore again I don't think he leave in one piece. The goblins tell us you're in hiding until this mess is straightened out I hope they get it figured out by the time school starts again. _

_Do you think McGonagall will be a better Headmistress? I don't think she could be worse than Dumby if she tried. Anyway everyone else wants to write a bit so I have to stop. Stay safe and I hope to see you soon._

_Ron_

_He's barmy._

_Totally mad._

_We're rather put out with Dumby ourselves._

_Fred and George here if you're wondering. The shop is simply spiffing can't wait for you to see it. Can't speak much about it as Mum is watching us write._

_Hovering and breathing down out necks to be exact._

_Ouch she just smacked the backs of our heads. _

_Watch for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes next time you're in the alley._

_We have to run but make sure you spread lots of mischief on your journey._

_Don't disappoint us._

_Gred and Forge_

_Don't mind them Harry and don't cause mischief. Be safe and I'll fix all your favorites when you return. I so wish we had left the station before that (Mum has a long pause here trying to find an appropriate bad name here, ouch another smack Fred) Anyway I wish we would have left sooner. We miss you dear and tell your cousin thank you for saving you for us. He can come anytime I'm sure I can find something he'll like too. I'm sure neither of you are getting enough food and exercise as you're hiding. _

_Be good and careful. We'll see you soon._

_Molly_

"Mother type right there, thinks everything can be cured with food." Mark sighed, "Mum was like that too."

"Mrs. Weasley is really nice." Harry agreed, "Her hugs though, I swear she'll break my ribs someday."

"What shop are they talking about?" Mike asked.

"Joke shop." Harry answered, "They can't say more because I made them promise not to tell their mother that I invested and helped them get up and running. They quit school just months before the end of their seventh year. They're brilliant though I'm sure they'll be raking in the galleons."

"I may just have to go to London soon." Mike grinned, "I'd love to see what they have."

"Don't eat anything they hand you." Harry said, "They gave Dudley Ton-Tongue Toffee a couple years ago."

"Was that the candy that made my tongue grow ten feet long?" Dudley asked with a shudder.

"Yes." Harry smiled, "They wouldn't do that to you again."

"Are you sure?" Dudley asked.

"Yes now that you saved me you'll be their hero." Harry laughed.

"What else do they have?" Mike looked very eager and Mark groaned.

"Let's see the last letter first." Mark tried to distract them

"Ok." Harry glanced down the letter, "It's from Remus."

_Pup,_

_I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you. I can't believe what that animal did to you. I can't believe I just let him do it. None of us thought Dumbledore could have done anything like this. I'm appalled and sickened. I don't even know what to say it's just horrendous._

_How are you doing? I want to make sure you aren't sulking about Sirius' death. I think that's another thing that can be solely placed on Dumbledore's lap. He kept him caged in the house with his mother's portrait screaming terrible things day and night. He was going crazy sitting here. I heard him call you James just before he died. It wasn't your fault at all. I think he really lost his mind in Azkaban. You helped him hold it together for a while but I really think it was too much for him. He's with James now and I know the two of them were happiest when they were together. I know you miss him as much as I do. Just to reiterate you are in no way to blame for his death. Wizards smarter and older than you have been duped by Voldemort and if Dumbledore had given you more information you would have never gone to the ministry._

_You know I'm not allowed to be your guardian but I would in a heartbeat if I could. I hope to see you this summer before you return to school. I hear a lot of change is headed our way and I hope it's all good for you. No one deserves a break more than you do. I don't know what else to say as I'm still horrified about what you've gone through. The Goblins are promising me that you're safe but pardon me if I'd rather see it for myself than to trust anyone with your wellbeing any more. _

_Take care Harry, I hope to see you soon._

_Remus Lupin_

"There's a good chap." Mark nodded.

"What did he mean he's not allowed to be your guardian?" Dudley asked.

"He's a werewolf." Harry explained, "In Britain its illegal for a werewolf to care for a minor."

"Like a howling at the moon, slathering jaws and infectious bite werewolf?" Dudley asked.

"That's only on full moons." Harry explained, "The rest of the time he is gentle."

"Unless he gets mad then the wolf surfaces some but doesn't take over." Mike explained.

"I've never see Remus get that way." Harry shrugged, "I did see him as a werewolf once and that was scary."

"You saw him from a distance?" Mike asked.

"No he was standing right in front of me when he transformed." Harry corrected, "Not more than five feet away."

"How in the… world did you not get bit?" Mike caught himself before his language got away.

"Long story that involves an animagus dog, a time turner, a hippogriff and about a hundred dementors." Harry shrugged glancing over the letter again leaving the other three gaping at him.


	8. Chapter 8

"Welcome and thank you all for coming to Hogwarts this afternoon." Minerva began her speech on the lawn in front of the main doors. A stage had been set up and the main ICW members were sitting in chairs behind her. She would be taking her own seat near Minister Bones in a few moments, "Without further ado I present the ICW American Delegate Richard Sanders."

Applause was wide spread but calm as they all awaited the news that would be coming forthwith. Richard shook Minerva's hand as she returned to her seat, "Again welcome and thank you for coming on this most somber occasion. It is not all bad news and I get the honor of imparting the good news. These last weeks have been very busy for the ICW. We chose a new Supreme Mugwump and I get the pleasure of introducing you to him. From the French Delegation I present the Supreme Mugwump Jacque Delacour."

The audience again all clapped but they knew this was going to herald some very big news. As the American stepped away from the podium and shook the hand of the new man that was stepping up to speak next. A hush fell over the grounds as he began to speak.

"Thank you Headmistress McGonagall for allowing us to do this here at your most precious school." Jacque nodded at Minerva before turning back to the audience, "As soon as your Professor found out about some of the charges I'll be reading she took steps to protect not only your school but the youth whom reside within these hallowed walls. She informed the Governors of the charges she heard about and suggested they find a replacement as soon as possible. I believe they made the best choice by selecting Professor McGonagall. As Richard so eloquently put it we have had a few busy weeks at the Headquarters for ICW. What started out as a celebration of the fall of an evil dark wizard became the fall of two evil wizards. Before this all started the Goblin Nation was approached by a young wizard of only fifteen years old who was seeking asylum from magical Britain. In all of these charges to follow the Ministry for Magic in Britain was held as accessories to the crimes. That is why the trial was held through the ICW rather than here within your own ministry. The young wizard in question had to be helped into Gringotts by a muggle because he could not have made it on his own. He had been viciously beaten by an adult muggle after being disarmed and discarded by his magical guardian. All of that sounds bad enough until you know the name of the wizards embroiled in this dark event."

Shocked gasps brought with it the murmur of everyone wondering who had been hurt.

"Ex-Mugwump, Ex – Wizengamot Head and Ex-Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has been found guilty by evidence of pensieve memories, eye-witness accounts and veritserum application to the charges of attempted murder of a minor in his charge, abuse and neglect of a minor in his charge, theft of valuables and money from a minor in his charge, destroying the wand of a minor with no cause and spreading falsehoods in order to receive awards and honors that are due to a minor. Those charges are directed at him alone. Additionally Delores Umbridge has been found guilty of torturing students in her charge; Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge are guilty as accomplices in the same charge. Cornelius Fudge has been found guilty of slander of a minor and others; Delores Umbridge has been found guilty as an accomplice in the same charge."

Reporters were scrabbling madly at parchment trying to get everything written down as the man spoke.

"Those are the charges dealing with minors." Jacque's parchment rolled over the top of the podium and as he continued to read the charges, "Following are the charges dealing with other crimes that do not involve minors. Albus Dumbledore has been found guilty of performing magic in an ICW meeting. For those who don't know the use of magic during a meeting was banned more than three hundred years ago when the French delegation at the time hexed the British delegation over a matter of a muggle battle. Since then any member found to be using magic during a meeting is immediately ejected and banned from ever stepping foot into the Headquarters again. This is notice that Britain will have to find a new delegate to take his place. Albus Dumbledore has been found guilty for falsehoods leading everyone to believe he defeated Gillart Grindlewald. It has been found that a muggle by the name of Nickolas Granvache of Russia accidentally shot him during their duel and nearly killed him. Albus Dumbledore disarmed him and then healed his wounds just before obliviating the evil wizard and giving him false memories of their duel."

Gasps rang out across the lawn and some reporters couldn't even gather themselves enough to write down what he was saying.

"I have a parchment here that lists three hundred other crimes for Dumbledore alone." Jacque stopped to see the astounded faces, "He has been found guilty on all accounts. He has already been moved to our prison facility. However if the British magical community can recover from this grievous damage we would be willing to turn him over to you. Thank you for your kind attention."

Immediately questions were being yelled but Jacque stepped away and allowed Minerva to step up again. At her stern look the group fell silent and she spoke, "Now Minister Bones will be speaking."

"Thank you Minerva." Amelia Bones took the podium, "As soon as the trial began everyone knew I was named a temporary Minister until Fudge was able to return. We had no idea that he was on trial at the time. Since he was found guilty on those counts he will be investigated for any other crimes before he is allowed to return as Minister. His trial begins as soon as we have our full Wizengamot back. As for Delores Umbridge, she was found guilty of using dark objects on students and we stand behind the ICW's findings one hundred percent. Currently she is also in the ICW prison facility and will be moved to Azkaban with her full sentence intact. Now is the time for questions, one at a time please. Mr. Billings from the Prophet am I correct?"

"Yes Minister." Billings nodded, "Can we believe these trials were fair and not an attack on British citizens by an outside force?"

"Our aurors were allowed to view all the evidence." Amelia answered, "They found that every single charge was accurate, well documented and true. This is not an attack by ICW but a help and very welcome as it has pointed out many flaws in our system. We are actually looking at revamping our government. This is not my decision but one from the Wizengamot members."

"How many minors are involved in all of this?" the next woman called upon asked.

"Dumbledore's charges affected one minor. More than forty individuals were found in Umbridge's case. And as we all know Fudge has been slandering one minor." She replied.

"Is Harry Potter in the other two lists?" another voice rang out.

"I'm sorry but in cases like this the name of any minor involved is not released for public information." Amelia answered, "I cannot confirm or deny any information on Mr. Potter."

"What was Dumbledore spreading falsehoods about?" Billings asked.

"I'm sorry but I can't answer that either." Amelia grimaced. She knew that now everyone would know that Harry Potter was who they were talking about and she could do little to stop them, "I implore you not to drag anyone's name through the dragon dung. I think we've had enough falsehoods in the media for the last year or so to make you want some facts."

"We're trying to get facts here." Another man yelled, "But you won't give them."

"I cannot give information about a minor without said minor's guardians available." She explained, "If I tell you the lies he told then the minor will be ousted and it is unfair to him. If we are to receive permission to announce his name I will call a press conference and explain as much as I'm allowed."

"There has been some speculation as to whether or not Harry Potter defeated You Know Who." Another man asked, "He is a minor but can you answer that question."

"You Know Who is dead." She answered, "The who and how is, at this time, still classified until the aurors are allowed to speak to the magical being who we suspect stopped him. Many questions surround it at this point. However as you all reported weeks ago Mr. Potter was at the scene of the event along with five of his friends."

"I was there and the aurors were trying to talk to Potter but Dumbledore told them no." Billings interrupted, "He said his guardian needed to be present. I heard him say it. Potter looked like death warmed over but Dumbledore let him be passed back and forth until the lad fell unconscious. I suggest that if he is not the minor in the previous charges you might want to look and see what he did to Potter."

"I will keep that information under advisement." Amelia answered she knew the lads name was going to be plastered all over the papers tomorrow despite her attempt to keep it covered. She hoped they would at least keep it to speculation.

*******Point of View change**********

"We're not going to classes today." Mark announced as they gather for breakfast at a nearby restaurant, "We'll be leaving the area for the day."

Harry and Dudley just nodded and went about ordering breakfast. They knew it was no use trying to pry the information out of the brothers. Mark quietly slipped a newspaper to Mike as he left announcing he needed to use the loo. The boys chatted as they waited for the food and didn't even pause when Mark's phone beeped for the text message coming through. Mike returned just as the food arrived. As he ate his breakfast he sifted through the briefcase he always carried with him. The four of them returned to Harry's dorm after breakfast and Mike pulled out the portkey he had kept in his briefcase. They all grabbed hold and in a matter of moments they stopped and even Dudley kept on his feet that time. Harry looked around at the place they had landed. It looked like a stone room with a window at one end.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"This is what muggles call a shooting range." Mark sighed, "We've adapted it to magic and use it for target practice. We can use spells or guns."

"Was the paper that bad?" Harry asked.

"What paper?" Dudley turned to his cousin.

"The one Mark gave Mike before he went to the loo for nearly twenty minutes." Harry explained, "I know it was a wizarding paper because I saw the pictures moving."

"Oh, so what did it say?" Dudley turned back to the grim faced adults.

"Well Dumb… Dumb… sorry I can't think of the nice nicknames. They found him guilty on all charges and he's in prison." Mark smiled tightly.

"And?" Harry waited for the other shoe to drop.

"They're speculating who the minor is and what exactly was done to him." Mike finished, "You are all over the paper… again."

"Can I see it?" Harry asked nicely which worried both adults. But of course that is why they came to this place.

Mike handed him the paper and then said, "We'll wait behind the glass, keep all your spells facing the targets and wait until we're safely out of the way before you begin."

Harry nodded absently as he looked over the paper. The main story was the charges on Dumbdork concerning an unnamed minor. Harry wondered as he read what items had been stolen and if they were recovered. The first part of the article laid out the facts. The second part was far more disturbing. Their guesses were fairly accurate. They didn't know the muggles involved but he knew most wouldn't even care about the muggles. The disturbing part was what they guessed for the abuse and neglect. Some of the speculation was scarily close to the truth. He really didn't want anyone to know about his relatives. The rest of the paper was the normal things with an anti-Dumbledore thing here and there. It wasn't until he read the back page with an article by Rita Skeeter that left him mad enough to start using the targets Mike had left. First he spelled them with her likeness and then he started blasting them to bits. She had, of course, brought up all the slander and made accusations about his lack of sanity. She even had the gall to slam Fudge and Dumbledore for feeding her the information that drove him round the bend. After a short fifteen minutes of blasting curses Harry sat down and picked up the paper again.

"Is it safe for the rest of us?" Mike stuck his head in the door.

"Yes it is." Harry answered, "I'm more disturbed than mad, it's like someone was watching me. However, I would love to see Rita Skeeter fired. Has she ever registered her animagus form?"

"She has an animagus form?" Mike asked shocked, "What is it?"

"A beetle." Harry shrugged, "That woman is so vile it must be a dung beetle."

"We can probably get her arrested." Mike offered.

"Without my involvement?" he asked.

"Sure we'll give an anonymous tip and then watch the aurors eat her alive." Mike grinned, "It will be most entertaining."

"Sounds like a good start. Do I have any way to counter act her accusations of insanity?" he asked.

"That's a bit harder to prove." Mark said, "All you can do is live your life without doing something crazy."

"I don't think he can do it." Dudley chuckled, "You have been hearing the same stories I've heard right?"

"You know, I'm surprised this has been settled so quickly." Harry said thoughtfully, "Normally stuff like this would drag out forever. And instead of speculation about me the Prophet would throw out all kinds of lies. Skeeter's article is more keeping with the papers past than these others."

"That could be the influence of the ICW." Mike offered as an explanation, "If a paper says something false about them they find themselves in a lawsuit. Not by individual members but the ICW as a whole."

"Have we heard any more about Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked.

"They're to be picked up by the aurors today." Mark supplied, "They'll be evaluated and then depending on what is found they'll be healed and returned home or arrested."

"Any idea how long this will take." Dudley asked.

"Not really." Mike said, "I'd say anything from a few hours to days or even weeks."

Mark pulled out his folder and said, "We have a new report."

He read it and handed it to Mike while he grabbed the briefcase and began searching through it. Mike whistled then turned to the boys, "The aurors have your parents and the Goblins are involved as your temporary guardians. They're sending you a letter."

"I'm not sure I want to read it." Dudley said as Mark handed him the letter. After some encouragement he opened it and read through it once, "Ok, I am not reading this out loud. I swear mum thinks I'm five."

"She misses her Dudders?" Harry chuckled as he teased his cousin.

"Actually that's a better nickname than she used." He tucked the letter into his pocket, "Anything else?"

"More letters for Harry." Mark handed him a new stack.

"Remus, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and the twins." Harry grinned at his letters, "The twins always cheer me up so I'll read Hermione's first."

"Girlfriend?" Mike made a face at him.

"No, we've gone over this before, just a friend." Harry shook his head, "Word of warning Hermione's parents are dentists."

"That's scary." Mike shivered.

_Harry,_

_I've been keeping track of the goings on by the paper and letters to Ron. I haven't received any response to my letters to you so I assume you didn't get to see them. Ron told me that he got one to you through the Goblins so I'm trying that this time. Is what the paper saying true? Were you hurt? Why didn't you come to one of us? How are you doing now? How are you coping with Sirius' death, you know it wasn't your fault. I'm sending you some brochures on dealing with grief. Don't hold it all in it's not good for you._

_I'm still in France at the moment and we're visiting all sorts of museums and cultural events. It is so interesting. We went to a lecture yesterday on the role of pollution in the downturn of society. I don't think he had all his facts straight though because I caught him contradicting himself at least three times. Maybe he was just nervous about speaking in public._

_Can you tell me where you are? Are you having any fun? Are you being treated well? You had better be eating. Have you finished your homework? When you finish laughing can you tell me if you have started it yet? Ron of course hasn't cracked a book all summer. He's only got a few weeks left and if he doesn't start it soon he'll be doing it on the train. Again._

_Speaking of Ron he said his arms are healed. He doesn't have any lasting scars. Ginny's ankle is back to normal she said it doesn't even ache any longer. I've finished my potions, finally! Ron said Neville is getting a new wand. I haven't heard from Luna but Ginny said they went on a hunt in the mountains looking from some made up creature again. _

_Will you be at school this year? _

_Oh my gosh Harry! I stopped here last night and was going to finish your letting this morning. But I got the paper and found all that stuff about Dumbledore and your abuse. Is any of this true? Rita is a monster, how can she say those things and get away with it? I wish I was at school so I could hex something. You listen to me Harry James Potter, you are not deranged. She is mental not you. I knew we should have kept her longer._

_I'm so angry I better stop now or I'll go on for another couple of pages. Write me back if you can_

_Hermione_

"I counted fourteen questions in there." Mike said in awe.

"We're lucky she was distracted. If she hadn't been we would have been treated to the full lecture that she went to." Harry grinned, "Grief brochures? Really?"

"She thinks every answer can be found in a book doesn't she?" Mark sighed, "How are you doing with that? You seem to be fine to me."

"I'm doing fine." Harry said, "I know it wasn't entirely my fault. Although I do hold some of the blame, I think a good portion of it goes to Dumbledore and Voldemort. Dumbledore never told me anything. He knew what was going on and if he had told me there was a prophecy in the ministry that Voldemort was trying to get then I might not have tried to go. You guys always tell us the why. He just said don't."


	9. Chapter 9

"When can we speak to Mr. Potter?" Amelia asked she had Tonks and Shacklebolt with her, "We'd like to clear up the matter of Voldemort's death."

"We have another memory to show you." Ragnok replied, "This was sent by the security detail. It's a memory of Harry telling him about his part in the event. You cannot share its contents yet nor the identity of our security detail."

After the group left the pensieve Amelia addressed them, "The points of light, any ideas?"

"I can tell you we think one of the points of light originated here in one of our high security vaults." Ragnok offered, "We think we've identified the vault but not the source."

"May we know which vault?" Amelia asked.

"The Lastrange vault." Ragnok replied, "I believe they are supporters of Voldemort, are they not?"

"They are in Azkaban for that offense." Kingsley agreed, "There is a legend at my home that tells of a wizard doing horrible magic and that when he repented his ways a point of light returned to him and he nearly died from it. However afterwards he was a more noble man than anyone could ever remember him being."

"Do you think Voldemort repented?" Tonks asked skeptically.

"No but he was possessing Harry at the time. It may be that Harry had enough remorse for endangering his friends and Godfather that he pulled the lights in." Kingsley offered.

"What kind of magic was this?" Amelia asked.

"Horcrux." He replied.

"But Harry had five points of light." Tonks argued, "Are you saying he made five of those? Is that even possible?"

"We've always said he was far more evil than anyone ever before. This would explain many things we have questions about. For instance, how did he survive Harry reflecting the killing curse back the first time?" Kingsley assured her, "If we knew which object the light came from we could easily check to see if it had been one."

"This will make the search in the vault easier." Ragnok motioned to one of his guards who ran from the room, "They will look for the residue of that dark magic."

"This has more twist and turns than Merlin's beard." Tonks huffed, "Will we ever find the end?"

*******Point of View change**********

"Harry Potter Sir." Dobby popped up beside Harry making him jump slightly.

"Dobby, what are you doing here?" Harry asked as the elf threw himself at his knees hugging them.

"Dobby is so glad that you is being good and healthy." He replied, "I heard Mistress McGonagall talking about a terrible article in the paper. I needed to checks on you myself. Are you injured?"

"Not anymore." He smiled and crouched down to the elves level, "Thank you for checking though. I haven't seen you for a while, how are you?"

"Dobby is being fine now. The old master Dumbdumb wasn't letting Dobby visit with Harry Potter anymore." The elf explained, "The new Mistress is much nicer and lets Dobby have the days off he was promised. I can check on Harry Potter again, she is worried for Harry Potter's safety."

"Will you do me a favor?" Harry asked.

"Anything for Harry Potter Sir." Dobby bounced on his feet.

"Tell Professor McGonagall that I'm fine." He said, "No scratch that, tell her I'm doing great and I should see her September first if not before. You can't tell her where we are or who I'm with."

"Yes Sir Harry Potter Sir." Dobby began to hop, "Is there anything else Dobby can do for you?"

"Not now." Harry patted him on the head, "Just don't work too hard, I want to see you healthy and happy when I get back to Hogwarts ok?"

"Yes Sir." Dobby grabbed Harry's knees again as he stood back up, "Dobby will tell Headmistress that Harry Potter Sir says he is doing fine, no scratch that he is doing great and he is going to see her at Hogwarts."

The elf popped away and left Harry shaking his head. Mark and Mike were grinning like crazy and all Dudley could do was ask, "What in the world was that?"

"That was a free house elf." Harry replied, "I freed him from a master that was cruel. Since then he thinks I'm great."

"I'd say so." Mike snickered, "Bit of a crush there."

"Do you know the Malfoy's?" Harry asked, Mike nodded he had seen them before, "That is who his master was. Malfoy is a death eater. Now you know why Dobby is so grateful."

"Ok so maybe it's not a crush after all." Mike admitted, "I've got to hear this story."

"Basilisk?" Mike asked after Harry had told them the entire story, "You killed a basilisk when you were twelve?"

"A freaking huge basilisk." Mark amended.

"And lived to tell the tale, yes." Harry said, "Now you know why Dobby is the way he is."

"We need to sit down and hear about all your years at school." Mark grimaced, "We might find more to charge Dumbledore with. He let you fight a basilisk."

"I don't think that one was his fault at all." Harry waved them off, "I mean Salazar Slytherin put the snake in the Chamber of Secrets how could Dumbledore be responsible."

"We'll leave finding responsibility to Grimstooth." Mike stated, "We'll just provide the problems."

*******Point of View change**********

"Pardon my intrusion Ragnok." Grimstooth bowed as he entered, "We have received a communication from our security detail."

"The vault?" Ragnok asked.

"No, the other one." He corrected glancing at Bones, Tonks and Kingsley, "They want us to look into Dumbledore's dealing with the last five school years. I have a memory that I've been viewing."

"I am sharing most of our information with the minister." Ragnok knew why Grimistooth was being vague, "Unless this has to do with Gringotts then I think you can share the information here."

"Yes Sir." Grimstooth bowed again, "The detail received information from Mr. Potter on his first five years at the school. First year he fought off Voldemort so that he couldn't obtain the Stone."

"Dumbledore fought him." Amelia stated, "I've heard that story."

"Dumbledore didn't fight him. He arrived in time to take Mr. Potter to the infirmary after Voldemort was defeated." Grimstooth corrected, "Second year Potter fought and killed a basilisk, third year he fought off over one hundred dementors and escaped a werewolf that was transformed, fourth year was the tournament that he didn't enter and last year was the prophecy held in the ministry. Every year he has faced and overcame an insurmountable task. We need to know how much of this was orchestrated by Dumbledore."

"I'll contact Jacque Delacour. He should be able to get us access to question Dumbledore." Ragnok pulled a piece of parchment forward and began to write.

"We would like to participate." Amelia told the Goblin, "We need to piece our lives back together and we can do that by prosecuting Dumbledore for the rest of his crimes."

"Is your ministry stable enough yet?" Ragnok asked, "Have you routed all his supporters?"

"No." she admitted, "We can't try him ourselves yet. However we want to participate in what you are doing. We want to make sure justice is achieved."

"You already have a job to do that you haven't finished." Ragnok pointed out, "What have you got on the Dursley's?"

"Imperious curse." Kingsley stated, "We know it's there but it's proving difficult to remove."

"Dumbledore placed it, we were sure he did." Ragnok grimaced, "We couldn't get him to admit it. He kept saying the last time he saw the man he didn't place any spells on him. I'll let you know what Jacque says. In the mean time we'll continue on with what we are doing.

"We've found it." A goblin rushed in carrying a cup, "It was difficult to find amongst all the other dark objects but it has the unique signature."

"May I?" Kingsley asked. Ragnok nodded and Kingsley performed a spell and a ghostly image floated out, "It was a Horcrux for Voldemort. I remember him looking like that years ago."

"That cup has a Badger on the side." Tonks looked it over, "I wonder if it's Hufflepuff's cup. It the only known relic left for her."

"It is." Ragnok agreed, "He filled it with the vile dark magic. Grimstooth, contact the detail and have them come here tomorrow at two."

"As you wish." Grimstooth bowed out of the room.

"Madam Minister I will complete this missive and let you know as soon as I can about the next phase in the Dumbledore case." Ragnok dismissed his guests. Once they were gone he finished the letter and had it delivered. Then he began the task of organizing his memories and pulling the ones he wanted to be viewed.

*******Point of View change**********

"Mistress Professor." Dobby approached Minerva.

"Yes Dobby what can I do for you?" she set a small smile on her face. This was the one elf that she just didn't know how to handle.

"I be having a message for you." He said, "Mr. Harry Potter Sir says he is fine, no scratch that, he is great and will be seeing you at Hogwarts soon."

"Are those his exact words?" her smile grew a little larger.

"Yes Mistress, I don't know why he wanted to scratch that but that is what he was saying." Dobby looked slightly confused.

"Did he look good?" She asked, "Can you tell me where he is?"

"He looked to be very healthy and happy." Dobby bounced on his feet with the good news, "But he said I can't tell you where he is or who he is with. Harry Potter is a great wizard."

"That he is Dobby." Minerva sighed in relief, "Thank you for bringing me his message."

With a bit more pep in her step Minerva went on to prepare for the staff meeting she was having that afternoon. She felt rather odd going to her new office. She would have felt bad about it had Dumbledore not turned out to be such a horrendous person rather than the grandfather type she always thought he was. It was still odd, but not in a bad way. She happily set upon her work and was just finishing when the professors began to arrive. She smiled and greeted each one.

Once they were all seated Filius was the first to comment, "Pardon the pun but what has you looking like the cat that ate the canary?"

"Not funny." She was still grinning though, "I received some very good news this afternoon."

"Well then spit it out." Bill chuckled at her and got accompanying nods and chuckles from the others.

"I received a message from Harry." She leaned back in her chair and laughed at the shock on the faces.

"The Goblins let him write to you?" Tonks asked shocked, they had told her that he would not be allowed to communicate at all.

"No." her smile dropped a little, "An elf who works here was able to pop to him and he brought back a message."

"Dobby!" Pomona exclaimed and noticed several questioning faces, "He is the elf Harry freed from the Malfoy's during his second year. He is a bit excitable."

"Yes and he repeated exactly what Harry told him." Minerva laughed a little at the expectant faces, "He said he is fine, no scratch that he is great."

Even Severus cracked a small smile at the comment. The meeting then began and they spent several hours going over everything they needed. It wasn't until the end that Minerva brought up her last issue.

"I have to pick a deputy Head." She sighed, "I'd like to know who would be willing." Pomona was the only one to raise her hand, "Excellent thank you Pamona."

"Not fair, I thought at least a few others would volunteer." She turned to Filius in a huff.

Tonks grabbed the attention away when she asked, "May I tell Remus about Harry?"

"I'd like to tell my family too." Bill added.

"No one else and tell them not to say anything." Minerva insisted, "Let Ronald tell Harry's other close friends but not in writing. I know this may seem a bit paranoid but I don't want anyone to jump on us thinking we know where he is or have been in communication with him. Beside he deserves some privacy."

*******Point of View change**********

"Welcome back to England Mr. Potter, Mr. Dursley." Ragnok greeted them as they entered the room.

"Thank you." They replied together.

"Have you found anything out about my parents?" Dudley asked.

"We have." Ragnok replied, "They are under the imperious spell. Do you want me to explain it to you?"

"No thanks, Harry already explained it to me when we talked before." Dudley replied.

"So Dudley can go back home now." Harry started to smile.

"Not yet." Ragnok frowned, "The aurors are having some problems getting it removed. Dumbledore is rather powerful."

"Maybe you should have Harry try." Dudley suggested, "Harry is powerful too."

"Dud I'm not that…." He started.

"That's not a bad idea." Ragnok interrupted thinking hard, "What do you think Mr. Crenshaw?"

"He's powerful." Mike agreed.

Mark agreed, "His aura is very strong."

"It's settled." Ragnok nodded, "We'll have you tutored in the spell shortly. But for now you need to view some memories."

Ragnok had decided on two memories to start with. He had also set aside another group of memories he thought the young man may want to see at a later time. The group viewed the celebration turned trial and then the day of the sentencing. While they were in the pensieve Ragnok called Kingsley to bring the Dursley's to the bank. The group exited the bowl and Harry quickly learned what to do for his relatives. When they arrived Kingsley had to freeze Vernon as he immediately tried to set upon Harry.

"Start with Petunia." he suggested.

Harry complied and sent the spell at his aunt. She immediately collapsed and set Harry to worrying, "Is she alright? Did I do something wrong?"

Kingsley waved his wand over the woman and said, "The imperious is gone. Good job Harry."

"But she fainted." He pointed at her.

"Normal reaction." Ragnok supplied, "She'll probably be out for a couple of days. The curse was left on for a very long time. We are suspecting many years."

"She'll be alright?" Dudley asked.

"She will be fine." Ragnok replied, "However she may be a different person than you know. We have no idea how much of her behavior was modified."

"Vernon now Harry." Kingsley got his attention, "I'll let off the freezing first then you do yours."

"Right." Harry readied himself. As soon as Vernon could move Harry hit him with the spell and he too collapsed, "Is he done?"

"Yes." Kingsley grinned as he checked the man over, "We'll take them to St. Mungo's now. Dudley we are suggesting you stay away until we are assured it is safe for you to be around them. Harry we are suggesting you stay away completely for a while. Next spring if you want to try you can visit them. But not without supervision." With that the auror took the two muggles away.

"Are we headed back?" Harry asked once they had closed the door behind the auror.

"No we'll stay here." Mike stated, "We've sent Aunty a letter asking if we can come to Hogwarts for a visit. We didn't mention you were with us so it will be a surprise."

"Can Mark and Dudley get past the wards?" Harry asked.

"It's a simple spell to block the repelling charms." Mike shrugged, "Once they are blocked a muggle can go near and even see it as it truly is."

"There are two weeks until school starts for you, one week for Dudley. So we'll first head into the alley to get your school supplies before we head out to muggle London for Dudley." Mark stated.

"I don't have my letter." Harry shrugged, "I don't know what to get."

"I have it." Ragnok advised, "We diverted all owls here to check for curses and things. I'll give them to you later, we only forwarded those that came to us and asked directly."

The goblin handed over the letter and the quartet headed out into the ally with Harry and Dudley's disguises firmly in place. As soon as they were out the door Harry wanted to head to Weasley's but Mike headed him off. He told them to hold that until last. The group didn't run into any problems in the very full alley. Mark was running lookout for them and always stayed a bit ahead of them in the crowd. It seemed that Harry wasn't the only one to wait until the last minute to shop. He began to worry about their disguises about half way through, it seemed like many of the girls he'd seen at Hogwarts recognized him as they would all smile and some would wave as they walked by. However none of the boys he knew gave him a second glance as they walked by. Harry held out until they were on the way to WWW before he finally broke down and asked.

"Is it just me or do the girls seem to see through the disguise?" he asked.

"They aren't seeing through it. If you don't mind I'll quote a few of them." Mark chuckled as he joined the trio then spoke in a high voice, "Who are those hot boys. Why don't we have boys that look like that at Hogwarts. That was just a few and some of the comments I won't repeat."

Harry grinned slightly as they continued on to the last store. The joke shop was packed and soon all four were grinning like maniacs. They jumped in with Mark and Dudley only slightly slower than the other two. Harry didn't pay much attention to the people in the store until one of the employees approached them.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hi welcome to Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes." Harry grinned at George's exaggerated bow, "I've not seen you all around before so I'll give you the tour." Without moving George pointed out the various sections and told them to feel free to look around.

"Do you have anything a little more serious?" Mike asked.

"We don't hurt anyone with our pranks." George shook his head.

"No I mean neat tricks for aurors and the like." Mike corrected, "We're into personal security and I was just wondering if you had anything like Zonko's security line."

"We need proof of your security before you can buy anything but we have some." George shrugged. Mike pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it to George who looked at it with raised eyebrows, "Gringotts is good enough for me. Fred, I'm going to be in the back."

"Need any help?" Fred yelled back.

"No, I'm good." George led the four of them behind a curtain, "We have shield hats, cloaks and gloves. Wearing any one item will protect you from most minor curses. Wearing two will protect against something has hard as a stun."

"What are these eggs?" Harry asked looking in a basket on the shelf.

"Disillusion eggs." George replied, "If you can't do the charm break the egg over your head. Feels the same as the charm that's why we packaged it into eggs. It will work great if you are protecting someone young enough to still have the trace."

"Couldn't that lead to kids getting kidnapped?" Dudley asked pointing out what he saw as the obvious flaw.

"That's why you need security clearance to even buy one." George agreed, "This way we're free from lawsuit. If your kid gets taken using our products then someone who has security either took them or didn't guard their stock."

"What's a decoy detonator?" Mark asked pointing at a box that looked like it was full of horns.

"You wind it up and roll it to an area away from yourself. It goes off causing several small explosions and lots of smoke." George explained.

"And this causes them to look at that instead of our way." Mark agreed, "Excellent diversion."

"We thought so." George agreed.

"This is amazing." Dudley was peeking into boxes and bags.

"Thank you." George cocked his head at the boy, "You know you look a little young to be in the security business."

"They're my kids." Mike waved him off.

"Funny that, I would have thought you would at least have the same accent if you were related." Harry noticed George pulling his wand.

"Easy George we're not kidnapped." He explained, "We're under their protection."

George paused for several seconds before he whispered out his question, "Harry?"

"No one can know." Mike stepped in.

"No one?" George asked conflicted, "But everyone is so worried about him."

"Can he tell them at dinner tonight after we're safely gone?" Harry asked.

"Fine but don't describe his disguise or what we look like to anyone." Mike gave in, "Just tell them Harry pulled you aside and made you promise not to tell anything except that he is fine and misses everyone."

Harry nodded as George glanced to him for confirmation before he agreed, "Alright I'll wait until dinner tonight. You know Fred is going to kill me."

"George is everything alright?" Fred entered the back room.

"Fine Fred." George hesitated; Fred could always tell when he was lying.

"George." Fred said it as a warning.

"Can we include him?" Harry whispered to Mark, "I trust both of them completely."

"Fine." Mark admitted after several moments of tense silence.

"Fred calm down." Harry said, "George is just keeping a secret for me. You know he hates keeping things from you but I had to ask. George, you can tell him now."

"Who are you?" Fred asked.

"It's our long lost silent partner." George grinned, "But it's a secret. We can tell the rest of the family at dinner tonight, but no descriptions of their disguises or who is with them."

"There are going to be a few extras at dinner." Fred warned, "That's why I was coming back this way. Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and Mad-eye are all coming to a mini Order meeting. McGonagall was going to come but something came up. I think I just figured out what came up."

"We can't confirm or deny that but it's best to keep that kind of thing under your hat." Mark instructed them, "Those four are fine to get info. Your brother Percy however is not."

"Percy's a git who never comes around anyway." George shrugged them off.

"We need to leave soon." Mark urged, "Portkey is going in three minutes."

"Any other messages you want sent?" Fred asked with a wink.

"Tell Hermione I really am fine and I've finished my homework. Ron and Ginny will want to know I got to fly against a professional seeker once during a practice game." Harry grinned, "Tell your Mum I miss her cooking but I've been eating well. I've actually gained weight this summer."

"I can tell." George grinned, "You grew a bit too."

"Did I?" Harry shrugged, "I'm still shorter than these guys so I hadn't noticed."

"I'd say what six inches?" George glanced over at Fred.

"About that I'd wager." Fred agreed.

"He's still speckly but gone is the scrawny git." George laughed, "Come back and see us when you can."

"I will." Harry replied as Mark held out the portkey, "Love the shop, you guys did good."

"Thanks to you mate." They said together and waved as the portkey took off.

"You two can come back out and help any time now." Ron stuck his head through the curtain, "We're kind of swamped and Ginny is threatening to start pocketing the galleons."

"Don't get your wand in a knot." Fred said as the two of them returned to the shop, "We just had some business to attend."

The rest of the day went quickly for the twins and at six they turned the sign to closed and started rushing people out the store. Ron actually gaped open mouthed at them. They never hurried anyone from the store. Ginny stood beside him with a curious expression on her face.

"What's up?" she asked after the last customer was practically shoved out the door.

"I'm starving, aren't you?" George brushed off their concern.

"Something is up with you two." She replied stubbornly.

"Well stand there as long as you want I'm headed home to dinner." Fred hurried to the floo.

Ginny and Ron reluctantly followed behind them. Once they were back home Ron rushed upstairs to clean up. Hermione was due to floo in tonight and he did not want to be wearing the WWW ugly fuchsia colored robes when she arrived. It was bad enough that most of the kids from school had seen him in them but she was an entirely different matter. By the time he was finished she had arrived and was sitting at the table talking to everyone and dinner was just about ready. Moody was the last to arrive as he had scouted the perimeter before coming in.

"All clear." He growled as he stomped over to the table, "What do we have?"

"Harry sent a message to Minerva saying he was doing great." Bill chimed in.

"How did she get a message from him?" Hermione asked, "I was told by the goblins he wasn't allowed any return communication."

"Dobby did it." Remus smiled, Tonks had already filled him in.

"He repeated Harry's exact words. He said I'm fine, no scratch that I'm great." Tonks giggled, "It also sounds like he will be at school on September first."

"Excellent." Moody replied, "We'll have Poppy give him a good going over to make sure he is fit."

"No need." Kingsley stated, "I saw him earlier today and he is in good shape. His magic is quite strong too. He got the imperious curse off the Dursley's."

"No way!" Tonks gaped, "They had everyone in the department try to remove that. Even Moody tried."

"He did it." Kingsley shrugged, "I watched him do it, the curse is gone and they are both still unconscious."

"He's really powerful." Ron interjected, "During the DA last year I began to suspect that he holds back in classes so that he doesn't stand out so much."

"You mean he's failing on purpose?" Hermione looked furious.

"No, he isn't failing anything." Ron pointed out, "Just not doing his best. I think he had the right idea. Voldemort wasn't worried about a mediocre teen wizard. If everyone knew he was as powerful as he is I think Voldemort wouldn't have waited so long to attack. It made good strategic sense."

"He's right." George interrupted before Hermione could start yelling, "We already knew he was powerful. But the DA really showcased it in a way that few people could miss."

"You attended the same classes he did." Fred pointed out, "He did teach you things that you didn't get from classes before."

"Ok but he should always try to do his best in school." Hermione grumbled, "It matters in the rest of your life."

"He didn't think he had that." Ginny offered quietly, "Didn't you ever notice that he wouldn't make any definite plans for the future? Even his idea to become an auror wasn't solid."

"In order to stay alive he let people think him a high average instead of the powerhouse he is." Tonks said thoughtfully, "Is he really that clever?"

"It didn't start out that way." Ron said, "At eleven he just didn't want to bring attention to himself. He's never liked the attention. Later as people kept underestimating him he realized that it could help. Now I don't have any proof of this, it is just theory. But you watch this year and I bet he'll be closer to the top of the class. Maybe even give Hermione a run for her money."

"He better." She scowled, "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. And he better not use this whole fiasco as a reason to avoid his homework."

"He didn't." George said nonchalantly as he picked up a bowl of potatoes.

"How do you know?" she frowned at him.

"That would be because he told me so." George ignored the gasps, "He said he was really fine and yes Hermione I did my homework."

"When did you see him?" Molly asked.

"He was in the shop today in disguise." Fred answered, "He said to tell Ron and Ginny that he got to play a little quidditch over the summer."

"That's good." Ron grinned, "I wondered who he played with?"

"Some professional team, but he couldn't say which one." Fred shrugged.

"What?" Ron and Ginny yelled together.

"It was just one practice game." George shrugged, "He had a message for you too mum."

"He misses your cooking but he has been eating." Fred told her, "He showed evidence of that too."

"He did." Kingsley grinned, "Gringotts gave him a medical exam at the beginning of the summer and another one when he got back. He only cared that they said he was fine but I waited for the results. He's grown six inches and gained enough weight that he is no longer seriously underweight. He's still quite thin but not skinny."

"Kingsley." Hermione got his attention before everyone left, "What are the chances of getting to visit Harry before school starts?"

"I don't think they are very high." He frowned, "But I'll check for you ok?"

"Thanks." She replied.

"I think Ron, Neville, Luna and I would like to be there too." Ginny added, "We've been through a lot together and we want to know he's ok. None of us trust anyone's word on this."

"After what Dumbledore pulled I don't blame you." He smiled but his voice was full of regret.

*******Point of View change**********

"Where did we land this time?" Dudley asked looking around.

"Scotland." Harry grinned, "Just outside Hogsmeade, we'll walk through the village and then up to the school."

"Very good, I didn't think you would have been out this far." Mark started to walk.

"No this far, but I know that hill." Harry pointed out the hill where the cave Sirius had hid in was, "This road curves around its base and then into town."

They rounded the corner and Dudley got his first glance at the village, "Wow, it looks antique just like Diagon Alley."

"Everything wizard in Britain is like that." Mike shook his head, "Even most of the people."

"Everyone but the kids?" Dudley asked.

"No even some pureblood kids dress like that." Harry glanced at the robes everyone was wearing, "Several people I know wouldn't have been caught dead in muggle apparel."

"Is that a candy store?" Dudley asked.

"Yes, you want a chocolate frog?" Harry grinned, "They've only got one good jump in them but they taste great."

"They aren't real frogs are they?" Dudley looked skeptical as he followed Harry into the store.

"No don't be silly." Harry grinned, "But I'd stay away from the Bertie Botts beans."

They left a short while later, each with a bag full of candy. Mike actually had to shrink his bag down to a more manageable size while Mark just laughed at him. They made quick work of the trip through the town and up to the school. They were met at the gates by Madam Hooch.

"Good afternoon boys. Minerva's just finishing her meeting with the professors." She explained, "I'm supposed to take you to the Great Hall to wait until she is finished, then she'll meet you there."

"Thank you Rolanda, it's good to see you again." Mike smiled, "I hope things are going well for you."

"They are fine Mr. Crenshaw thank you for asking." She smiled back, "So did our work together help you any?"

"Yes I was able to pass the test and we've been in the security business ever since." Mike explained, "I still don't understand why I need to be able to fly a broom that well just to run a security business but it was a license requirement."

"He failed it the first time." Mark chuckled, "He played quidditch for years but couldn't do the obstacle course."

"Hey I'm a keeper not a seeker." Mike glared, "I didn't have to do that many tricks on a broom to be a keeper."

"What's a keeper again?" Dudley questioned.

"Goalie." Harry replied quietly they were still disguised so he kept his voice too soft for his coach to hear.

"Right." Dudley nodded.

"Here we are." Rolonda motioned to the double doors, "Just pick seats at one of the tables and she'll be down shortly."

"Thank you." Mark and Mike smiled and waved as she left.

Harry led the way in and chose his normal seat at the Gryffindor table, "Its weird being here when it's all empty."

"Harry Potter Sir." Dobby whispered loudly, "It's good to see you home. Do you want me to notify the Mistress Professor that you is here?"

"No, she knows we're here just not that it's me." Harry smiled at the elf, "That's why I'm in disguise."

"Oh are you going to surprise Mistress Professor?" he asked with an odd look on his face.

"A little." Harry tried to hold in the laugh.

"Is you wanting anything to eat or drink while you wait?" at that question Dobby began to bounce in anticipation.

"I'd like some pumpkin juice please, anyone else?" he turned to the others.

"Pumpkin juice will be fine." Mike answered.

Dobby popped away and returned with a tray loaded with glasses, juice and snacks. He set it down and then turned to Harry, "Just call Dobby if you is needing anything else."

"We will and thank you." Harry said.

Dobby popped away with a huge grin on his face. The four of them dug into the snacks and drinks then sat back to chat.

"Wow, that's like pumpkin pie in a glass." Dudley exclaimed after he took his first drink, "You were right again Harry. You said two good drinks and this is."

"Don't you all look comfy." A voice from the door made them all turn.

"Aunt Minnie." Mark and Mike jumped up and went to hug the professor.

Hugs and exclamations of affection filled the room for a few minutes. Flitwich and Sprout followed in behind them laughing as the two men lifted Minerva up in a shared hug.

"Stop that." She smacked their arms.

"But we've missed you sooooo much." Mike sang.

"You sound and act like you're eight again." She scolded as they put her down.

"He's eight and I'm nine." Mark huffed playfully.

"Good to see you boys again." Filius greeted them.

"You too." Each of the men shook the other two professor's hands.

"Did you bring your work with you this time?" Minerva motioned to the two blond boys still at the table.

"Yep but they're in disguise so you can't tell anyone." Mike said in a carrying whisper.

"How long are you getting to stay?" she asked and they led her towards the two boys.

"Actually we thought we'd stay for a couple weeks at the very least." Mark put an arm around his aunt, "You wouldn't mind a couple extra muggles about the place would you?"

"You brought muggles into the school?" she turned on them, "I don't think that's a very good idea. Not all the death eaters have been caught and we have their children that attend school here."

"Actually the bigger blond and I are the muggles." Mark grinned, "The other one is a wizard and we were thinking about putting him here for the school year. He needs a good school you know. We have a muggle school for the other one but we can't go for another week."

"Fine but I need to know who to hide them from." She sighed.

"Great, basically hide them from everyone." Mike shrugged at her look, "We can tell you three their true identities but that's it for the next two weeks. After that they're free from us until next summer."

"Fine then who do we have here?" she asked grinning at the two boys.


	11. Chapter 11

Mike tapped Harry on the head and then blocked him from view and tapped Dudley, "Here we have Dudley and his cousin Harry." Mike stepped away and snickered at the gob smacked looks on the faces of the Professors.

"Um… surprise." Harry stood and grinned, "I think you broke them Mike."

"I knew it." Filius was the first to get back under control, "I called it."

"You only suggested that it would be great to have them doing it." Pamona waved him off, "Nice to meet you Dudley, Harry it's good to see you safe and sound."

"Thanks Professor." Harry grinned at the herbologist.

"Harry." Minerva gasped out finally. With tears in her eyes she reached out for him.

"Hi professor." He moved closer and meeting her in a hug, shocked at depth of his own feelings.

She clasped him firmly before she said to her nephews, "Thank you for taking care of him and bringing him home."

"He's great." Mike waved her off, "We already volunteered to take them next summer even if we aren't needed exactly."

"Wait, this can't be the subject that was so good at following rules." Filius interrupted the touching scene, "He's never followed a rule in his life."

"I have too." Harry finally pulled out of the hug, "I follow most of the rules. It's only when I have to break a rule to do the right thing that causes it to look like that."

"Does that include sneaking out to Hogmeade in your third year?" Minerva chuckled.

"Yes of course it does." Harry put on an innocent face, "It was wrong of Uncle Vernon not to sign my form just because I blew up his sister. I was only doing the right thing."

"I haven't heard that one." Mike said turning to Mark, "I thought we heard all the stories."

"If you haven't been around for a year at least then you don't know everything." Filius pointed out.

"Actually I don't think you guys even know it all." Harry grimaced, "Did you know Hermione brewed polyjuice potion in Myrtle's bathroom during our second year?"

Minerva blinked several times before stating, "No I didn't know that. Why did she need to brew that, what kind of havoc did you create with that. Please tell me you didn't give any to Fred and George."

"We were trying to find out who Slytherin's heir was." Harry shrugged, "We used it to question people. And no Fred and George had no idea we did it until later."

"Was that when she turned into a cat?" Pamona asked chuckling, "No wonder we couldn't reverse the spell."

"What else don't we know?" Minerva tried to look strict but she was so glad to have Harry back it wasn't working well.

"Speaking of sneaking to Hogsmeade, I was hiding near you when you told Rosemerta that Sirius was my Godfather." He grinned.

"Anything else you feel like admitting?" Filius chuckled.

"Hermione didn't go looking for the troll first year. She was in the bathroom crying because Ron was being mean. I made him go with me to get her when Quirrell came in, since it was entirely his fault anyway."

"Harry, why didn't you think to get a prefect to do that for you?" Minerva sighed in exasperation.

"They were busy making sure everyone was safe." Harry defended, "The troll was supposed to be in the dungeon. Which reminds me, if the troll was in the dungeon why did Dumbledore send the Slytherins back to their dorms that are in the dungeons?"

"I asked that at the time but he just glared and then flitted away without answering." Minerva sighed, "I took it at the time to mean he knew where it was and that they wouldn't be in any danger. He always seemed to know everything going on in the castle. I forgot about it after finding you all in that bathroom with the thing knocked out cold on the floor."

"Next?" Pamona asked.

"That's about it, I think." Harry smiled politely trying to convey sincerity.

"I don't buy that for a moment." Filius chuckled.

"Really I think you knew about everything else, I mean you knew about our Defense Association didn't you?" Harry asked.

"I still don't think we know it all." Minerva patted his arm, "But we have enough confessions for one day."

"Good because I'm starving." Harry collapsed back on his seat at the Gryffindor table.

"You just had a snack." Minerva stated, "Don't tell me you're going to start eating like Mr. Weasley?"

"No way." Harry shuddered, "If I ate that much I'd be sick. I do however have a healthy appetite now. Mark was able to give me ideas on stretching my stomach to accommodate enough food to actually live and grow on."

"It was horrible Aunt Minnie." Mark said, "He couldn't hold enough to grow. He was barely sustaining his weight. But now with a slightly larger stomach and knowing what to eat he has gained weight and grown about six inches. Before he left for America he was given a physical and he got another one today."

"You are looking well Harry." She smiled, "Now why don't you four tell us how your summer went."

After talking for hours Minerva showed them to the Gryffindor tower. They were staying in his old dorm room. He pulled out his trunk and enlarged it, placing it at the foot of his bed. Soon they were all in bed and asleep. Harry slept soundly knowing he was home again.

At breakfast the next morning Mike pulled open his file as always, "Your friends have asked to visit you before school starts."

"Can they?" Harry asked, "I want Dudley to meet them."

"That would be cool." Dudley agreed.

"Ok, Grimstooth is arranging them to come here but you can't let them know this is where you're staying." Mark instructed, "We don't want them talking about it and the wrong people finding out."

"Great."

True to the goblin's word Harry's friends showed up in the Great Hall just after lunch. Hermione was the first to hit him with a hug. As soon as she let go it was Ginny's turn to hug the life out of him followed by Luna. Neville and Ron just shook his hand chuckling at him trying to get his breath back. Dudley was treated similarly along with thanking him repeatedly for saving Harry. The group decided that Dudley needed a tour of the castle and grounds. They started outside since it was such a nice day.

"Is that the tree?" Dudley pointed at a willow by the lake.

"No, that's just a normal willow tree." Harry turned them all and took them to the whomping willow. Mike and Mark kept far enough back to give them privacy but not too far to let become targets.

Luna led them to the thestrals which no one but her and Harry could see. None of them knew if Mike or Mark could see them. After those they came to Hagrids hut and stayed for a short visit. Hagrid apologized for giving Dudley a pig's tail and Dudley apologized for trying to eat Harry's first cake. The visit ended shortly after and they continued around the grounds and finally went inside. They were all over the castle but when they reached one specific corridor Ginny let out a laugh and ran ahead.

"Look they added a plaque." She pointed to a grassy spot on the floor, "Product of Fred and George Weasley, mischief maker's extraordinaire. That certainly fits."

"What is it?" Dudley asked confused.

"Remember the story about the portable swamp?" Harry asked and Dudley nodded, "Well this is what's left. Flitwick said it was too good of an example of creative magic to destroy it completely."

"So you just have this piece of swamp hanging out in the hall from now on?" he asked dubiously.

"At least until the magic fades." Hermione shrugged.

The room of requirement was another big hit with Dudley. He had Harry change the room more than a dozen times before they went on to see the rest of the castle. After dinner the group said their goodbyes.

The girls all looked teary until Dudley laughed and said, "You'll see him in another week or so. It's not like its goodbye forever."

"I agree." Ron huffed, "Enough emotional junk. Just hug him, say goodbye and let's go."

"Ronald you have the emotional range of a teaspoon." Hermione angrily wiped her eyes as she glared at him.

"Dudley said it first." Ron pointed as he backed away, "Why aren't you yelling at him."

"Don't change the subject." She scolded.

"You were right." Mike leaned over, "They do argue like a married couple."

The rest of the group broke into laughter as Hermione continued to scold Ron for his behavior. Neither of them had heard Mike's comment. Soon they were all gone and Harry sat down beside Dudley.

"Are they always that excitable?" Dudley asked.

"No, normally they are normal." He shrugged, "I really can't believe Hermione didn't drag us into the library for four or five hours though."

All too soon the week was up and Dudley was headed to school. Just before they left though they got a message, the Dursley's had woke up and were asking for Dudley and Harry. It was with a great amount of trepidation that the four of them headed to St. Mungo's.

Dudley and Mark enter the room first while Mike and Harry waited by the door and listened. It was Dudley's idea to listen so he would know whether or not he wanted to see the two of them.

"Dudley!" Vernon's voice was heard first but it was quickly followed by Petunia's.

Harry listened as the two of them exclaimed about how healthy he looked. They talked for long time about this and that, including Uncle Vernon's new diet and exercise plan. He couldn't believe how far he'd let himself go. It was just about time to leave when Harry decided to step in with Mike right behind him.

"Harry." Petunia gasped and then began to cry, "I feel so terrible, can you ever forgive us?"

"I'm so sorry Harry." Vernon looked nearly sick.

"There isn't anything to forgive because it wasn't you." Harry explained, "The curse takes away your free will."

"I'm still so sorry. I would never have treated you that way. Can we make it up to you in any way?" Vernon wiped his eyes with a meaty hand.

"Just get yourself healthy and be good parents for Dudley." Harry said, "He was wronged as much or more than I was."

"I'm sorry but we have to go." Mike said from next to the door, "Dudley is starting at school tomorrow and today is the day to arrive."

"Please tell me you're not sending him back to Smeltings." Vernon looked aghast, "I hated the place while I was there."

"No he's going someplace else." Mike smiled, "We can't tell you where until Gringotts gives us permission."

Goodbyes were quick and they were soon on their way to Dudley's new school. He had all kinds of work he'd made up over the summer and they would be speaking with the Headmaster and councilors before Dudley would be settled in his school. Mike and Mark were staying on as substitute professors for a while until they were sure Dudley was safe. Mike would be taking Harry back to school and dropping him off after Dudley was set. Tonks and Bill had both visited with Harry and were planning on keeping him close for the next week.

Harry's first day alone was filled with meetings. Gringotts, Professors and aurors were together talking with him about safety. Their first decision was to keep Harry at Hogwarts instead of having him ride the train. He knew he would miss the ride but he agreed that it may not be safe for the others if he was there. Belletrix Lestrange was still at large being one of the only inner circle that had left the ministry before the aurors arrived. Harry was at the top of her hit list. The aurors were hunting death eaters using the list Harry had provided in the Quibbler interview and had added other known death eaters to the list. Many others were being watched because of their past blood purity leanings.

After that first day it got quieter and Harry spent his time helping Bill and Tonks get ready for their classes. When he wasn't with them he was with Minerva, Filius or Pamona. He wasn't even alone at night in his dorm, Bill was staying with him. It was during the first time he was having tea with Minerva that she asked a question that had been disturbing her.

"Harry, you've been so good, agreeing to follow all the rules and even thinking of a few that we didn't think of." She looked at him with curiosity, "Why are you being so helpful now when you haven't been in the past."

"In the past I was just told don't do this." Harry explained, "Now you tell me why and I can understand what the consequences will be if I don't. If someone would have just told me there was a prophecy that only Voldemort or I could get then maybe I would have tried harder to see if the vision he sent was real or not. Maybe Sirius would still be alive. Even at eleven a kid wants to know why I'm not allowed to do that."

"I thought you knew about the prophecy." She frowned.

"Not until after Voldemort was dead." He sighed, "Dumbledore explained it to me after I recovered. He was really bad about not giving good reasons for things. I mean telling a room full of kids not to go near the third floor corridor on the right side on penalty of death did nothing to keep kids out. I know at least twenty kids that went to see what was in the room the first week of school. It took Ron, Hermione and I a few weeks before we accidentally went there. And before you say why didn't you listen to the others, no one was admitting to having gone to check it out until several years later."

"Looking at it from that point of view I believe all of your professors must be insane." She sighed, "What were we thinking?"

"Honestly I don't think anyone did think." Harry shrugged, "Dumbledore is brilliant, he tells you do this and you say ok. All of us did it. All of us believed him to have our best interests at heart."

"I'm so very sorry Harry." She said softly.

"I'm not blaming you." He waved her off, "We all believed him. I had no idea he was anything other than a grandfatherly headmaster until he was shoving me on the floor and breaking my wand. You know, I beginning to wonder if the prophecy was even about Voldemort."

"I couldn't tell you, I never heard the thing." She shrugged.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who thrice defied him, Born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, But he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" Harry quoted it from memory with his eyes closed; he didn't want to see his professor's face.

"I don't know about the thrice defied part, let me think." Minerva sat back in her chair and sipped her tea as she thought, "Well I'm no expert in divination, in fact I hold very little regard for any facet of that branch of magic. Do you know who made it?"

"Trelawney." Harry grinned at her frown, "She's not quite the fraud she's made out to be. Twice that I know of she has gone into a trance and spoke with a layered, gravelly voice and gave real prophecies. But this was the first one. She said it to Dumbledore, Snape heard the first half and told Voldemort. That's when he went after my parents."

"He promised he'd never tell you that." Snapes voice came from the doorway.

"He did a lot of things we never thought he'd do." Harry shrugged but refused to look at the man.

"My three worst decisions and now you know them all." Snape entered the room.

"I do?" Harry finally looked at the man with curiosity on his face.

"Becoming a death eater, telling that prophecy and the memory you saw last year." He took a seat just down from Harry.

"You count letting me see the memory as a worst decision?" he asked.

"No."

"Then what about it was the worst? Deciding to go outside?" Harry didn't understand.

"The bullying was a normal part of everyday. I did my share of it too." Snape explained, "The name I decided to call your mother was the worst part. She was my best friend until that moment. I was just mad that they had embarrassed me and I took it out on her. I apologized for months afterward but she wouldn't be my friend again. Not that I blame her at all."

"What can you tell me about her?" he was genuinely curious of what the man had to say.

"I don't suppose Petunia ever told you anything about her?" the older man asked.

"She was under the imperious curse and told to treat me badly. She never talked about her except once to tell me they died in a car crash and once to call her a freak."

"That you can probably blame on me." His self-depreciative smile was a new expression that Harry had not seen before, "When your mother got her letter Petunia wrote to Dumbledore to see if she could come too. I saw the return correspondence and convinced Lily to read it with me. Petunia found out and was furious for a long time. That's when she started calling you mum a freak."

"She was just jealous." Harry shook his head, "How long did she stay mad?"

"Until Lily quit being my friend." He sighed.

"She holds a bit of a grudge then." Harry chuckled, "I have been wondering who she will be since the imperious is gone. They've both apologized but I don't really know how much was just for show to stay out of trouble."

Note: Since I've had several reviews on this I want to explain - Old married couples argue for attention. They argue about something and then kiss and make up. Same kind of thing with Ron and Hermione. No one is throwing out hateful, hurtful comments like during divorces and such.


	12. Chapter 12

The last week of summer holiday sped by at a furious pace for Harry. Before he knew it he was sitting in the Great Hall waiting for the train to arrive. He was petting Hedwig as he sat thinking about stuff. Hedwig had returned as soon as he had reached the school, he knew she would have died had he taken her with him.

"Are you ready for this?" Tonks asked as she moved towards him.

"No." Harry said dejectedly.

"You'll be fine." Bill patted his back as he walked past, "Your friends will have your back."

"I've just got a bad feeling." Harry shrugged, "Something is going to happen."

"You're at Hogwarts what can reach you here?" Tonks smiled.

"Will you guys walk down to the station with me?" Harry stood and Hedwig flew off, "I know I'm not supposed to go alone but I just have a feeling I need to be on that platform."

"Kingsley is on the train." She assured him, "Things will be fine."

"Please?"

"I'll tell Minerva where we're going." Bill gave in, "Don't leave before I get back."

The three of them were able to catch a ride in one of the carriages and made it to the station just as the train arrived. They had just climbed out of the carriage when pops gained their attention. Twenty death eaters popped into being on the platform. Tonks sent a patronus to the aurors while Bill sent one to Minerva. As they sent their messages Harry started to creep forward to get in a good position to fire spells. Bill and Tonks joined him as the leader began to speak.

"Hand over Harry Potter and we'll let the rest of you live." Bellatrix's voice rang out loud and clear.

"He isn't on board you lunatic." Neville's voice was full of anger.

She raised her wand and said, "I'll give you until the count of three to toss him out. If not I'll blast this train to bits with all of you still on board."

"He really isn't on board." Draco was the next to speak.

"Draco why are you hiding him, have you switched sides?" she asked in her own sickly sweet manner.

"I'm not on board the train." Harry stood leaning against the carriage Bill and Tonks were still hiding behind.

"Bity baby Potter, I'm soo glad you came out to play." She raised her wand and Harry pushed away from the carriage and took a few steps away to give Bill and Tonks more room.

"Twenty on one Bella are you that scared?" Harry taunted right back.

"Only I will fight you." She tossed the first spell which Harry easily blocked.

"I'll believe that when I see it." He responded to her continuous stream of spells with blocks and dodges, "None of you have any honor to speak of. You hide behind masks just like every criminal who doesn't want their face seen."

"We wear our masks to prove our faithfulness." She responded throwing more curses.

"Faithfulness to a dead half blood, how touching." Harry sneered.

"You lie." She screamed.

"I don't lie, can't you see my scar?" Harry laughed at her, "His mother was Merope Gaunt. The last daughter of a pureblood family so inbred that his grandfather called his grandmother sister." She sent a rather vicioius spell that time and he ducked before going on, "His father was a muggle. He did come by the title Lord honestly enough, the muggle grandparents he murdered at the age of sixteen were a Lord and Lady of the muggle realm." Several more nasty hexes passed him by, "Merope was so ugly she only managed to get the muggle's attention by giving him love potion."

"More lies." She screamed.

"No the goblins told me all about it." Harry laughed, "They think it's so funny how the purebloods let a halfblood rule over them. It's rumored you even kissed the hems of his robes. Tell me Bella did you ever grovel before him? I know you did."

She screamed out her rage along with the other death eaters and they all began to attack. Kingsley, Tonks and Bill soon joined the fray. Neville, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna were at their windows tossing out spells where they could and yelling warnings when needed.

Harry was a whirlwind as he fought Belletrix and two other death eaters. Twenty to four weren't great odds but there were a few stupid ones that fell quickly leaving it fifteen to four which was much better. Every time Harry would dispatch one of his opponents a new one would take his place. Harry finally caught Bellatrix with a cutting curse that chopped her wand in two. He followed it up with a stunner and then tied her up. He noticed one death eater off to the side that was reaching towards his wrist and Harry stunned him quickly. At this point Harry realized that during the fight the aurors arrived as did more death eaters.

"Good job everyone." Kingsley stated after the last one fell, "Aurors grab a prisoner and keep hold, if they portkey away we all want to go. Not you Harry."

"I won't." Harry grinned, "I have a death eater over here by the tree that wasn't fighting. But he was reaching for his wrist, I though he may be trying to call some reinforcements so I stunned him."

Aurors around him began to unmask the attackers before portkeying them to the ministry holding cells. Kingsley was supervising and tracking everything before each group left. Professors had also arrived and were on the train tending to the students. Bill stood by Harry as he sat in the doorway of the carriage nearest him. Minerva and Poppy were the last to arrive and they went to Harry first.

"Are you alright?" Poppy asked, "Any injuries?"

"I don't think so." He shrugged, "I don't feel any pain anywhere."

"Ok when you get back to the castle I want you to come by for a good once over." She instructed before moving through the crowd looking for injuries to fix.

"You had to be down here didn't you?" Minerva stated rather than really questioned.

"If we hadn't come they would have ripped the train apart looking for me." Harry said, "Bellatrix didn't even believe Draco Malfoy when he told her I wasn't on board."

"We have them all." Kingsley walked up with Tonks by his side, "Everyone from the list, and a few not on it, have been hauled in today. Thanks for your help today Harry, I wouldn't have been able to hold the train on my own. By the way, the one by the tree that you stunned was Peter Pettigrew."

"Good." Harry gave one quick nod.

"Bill, I want you and Tonks to escort Harry back up to the school please." Minerva instructed, "Just take him straight to the hospital I want him checked out before he goes to dinner."

Poppy was already moving around the room when the two professors arrived with Harry in tow. After a thorough checkup he was pronounced fit and ready for school. He was able to return to the feast shortly before the sorting began. The three of them stepped in the doors just before the first name was called. Before they made it three steps into the room the students stood and clapped for the three of them. They nodded back and then proceeded to their seats. Once seated the rest of the room stopped clapping and also sat and then the sorting began. Things were calm for the first few weeks of the new school year. They were working on non-verbal forms of spells they could already do. Just at the end of the second week Harry went to meet with Firenze.

"I believe that the prophecy does mean two separate dark lords." Firenze stated. Minerva had given him a written copy to study, "The first part I am in agreement with Dumbledore that it means Voldemort. However that second part seems to be separate, the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies. At first it seems as though it is reiterating itself but I don't believe so. I think that if it were to repeat an important part it would be either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. I think that is just the end of the first prophecy. The second one you don't have to kill someone to vanquish them. You just have to stop them. Putting them in prison would qualify the prophecy."

"Do you think it's Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"You didn't vanquish him." Firenze shook his head in disagreement, "You helped get evidence but you didn't do anything yourself."

"So I have at least one more Dark Lord to vanquish before we can put that prophecy to bed then." Harry sighed.

"I would expect it soon." Firenze looked up at the night sky, "Mars is still bright but it's beginning to wane."

The first few weeks of classes were review for Harry and as he was expecting it was little boring. He had spent plenty of time practicing over the summer so he knew he wouldn't struggle at all. He laughed as he thought back to the first day at the University.

***Flashback***

"I just can't believe you two aren't upset about having to go to school through the summer." Mike grumbled, "I mean what kind of teen would rather go to school than to a party or amusement park?"

"We've been to three parks and have another one scheduled. If you count each Disney park separately it's even more. And we got to spend time on the beach." Harry said, "I've done more fun stuff this summer already than I have any other year or ten of my life before. Now I get to go play with magic during the summer which was never allowed at home. No pout from me, I'm good with a little school time."

"Dudley?" Mark turned to the other teen.

"I decided when Dad started hitting Harry that I couldn't stay the same or I'd end up like him. I have a chance to change everything and if it takes three summers worth of work to get on the right track I'm more than willing to do it." Dudley shrugged, "Unlike Harry I've had more fun in my life than most kids so giving up a little time now to get what I should have gotten back then I can handle. Besides the older I get the more behind I get, if I wait anymore I just get behind further."

***end flashback***

Harry was really proud of what Dudley had said. It showed that he was very serious in his change of heart. He had done very well in the school time too. Top marks by the time they had finished. Harry was rather happy with his own marks. He hadn't caught up on all his muggle studies that he'd missed but he'd started. They even gave him some stuff to work on over the school year and he could turn in the work at Christmas and still get a grade. He hoped he could go ahead and get a muggle diploma along with his NEWTs.

He was proudest of his achievements in his magical study. He had thought Snape wouldn't know what hit him once he reached potions. Harry now knew what he was doing in that class and hoped Snape would change his teaching technique now that Voldesnort was gone. He had also taken Runes during the summer school and had even taken the American equivalent of an OWL and was going to take it this year. He knew Ron wouldn't be happy but he was just going to have to get over it. There wasn't going to be any holding back now. Mark had explained to him the dangers of it and now that he had no reason to hide he wasn't going to.

Harry's first NEWT level potions class was something for the record books. The only Gryffindors were Harry, Ron and Hermione, with Slytherins Draco, Blaise and Daphne there were also a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs but Harry was more worried about the Slytherins. Snape blew into the room the way he always did and turned to the class.

"There will be no shenanigans in this classroom. I will not tolerate anything. This is not like any potions class you've had before. You will not get away with anything. These potions will be volatile and dangerous." He looked around the class but didn't linger on Harry like he usually did, "Any questions?"

For the first time in memory they had a pleasant potions class. All of the potions turned out well and there were no points deductions for any house. The rest of his week went just as well. No one commented on Harry's lack of problems, but they were reviewing. At the end of the fourth week while studying in the common room Hermione was the one to finally ask.

"Harry, you are doing so much better than any year before." She stated, "Why, is it the new wand or are you not holding back now?"

"I was in a place where I could practice all summer." He grinned, "I do have a new wand and I'm holding nothing back. I hope you don't mind if I give you a run for those grades this year, that's my plan."

"I look forward to it." She nodded and went back to her homework.

"It's been five weeks Harry." Ron complained as they stopped between classes to look over the map again, "I think Firenze was wrong."

"Keep in mind that a centaur's soon is a different to ours. They look at time in a far different way than humans do." Harry said, "However, the second prophecy followed closely behind the first one so it would be wise to think the second Dark Lord would be on the heels of the defeat of the first one."

"Why can't it be Dumbledork again?" Ron asked.

"He didn't vanquish him. He only gave evidence for someone else to do it." Hermione explained, "The only way it will be Dumbledore is if he escapes from prison, comes after Harry and is defeated by Harry."

"That's why you keep looking for him on your map." Neville agreed, "Makes since."

Harry kept up regular communication with Mark, Mike and Dudley. It was Halloween when Harry received his next letter from them. However he was late to breakfast so he was unable to read it until dinner time. As they were enjoying the holiday feast Harry was reading his letter and telling his friends about it.

"Dudley won the tournament for his weight division." Harry grinned hearing several of his friends cheer for Dudley's success, "He knocked out last year's champion in the second round to win. Mike says he's really good."

The Gryffindors enjoyed their dinner immensely laughing and talking the night away. Just as the feast ended the doors to the Great Hall were thrown open. Harry was on his feet with his wand in his hand before the frightened squeaks had finished squeaking.

"What now?" Harry thought to himself, he soon got his answer when Albus Dumbledore stepped into the room.

"Mr. Potter I am very disappointed in you." He stated looking quite a bit worse than the last time Harry had seen him.

"Which 'thing' are you disappointed in Dumb between the ears? The fact that I didn't die when you wanted me to or going to the goblins for help. Hmmm maybe it was giving evidence that you're a fraud? Not staying in the Dursley's house or yard? I know, it was getting your Chocolate Frog cards discontinued wasn't it."

"They didn't discontinue them they incinerated them." He growled, "Every one that was made fell to their spell and was turned to ashes."

"It was the cards then." the students were moving away from the tables and were edged their way along the walls to leave or get behind the professors table. Harry climbed over the table between him and Dumbledore as he continued to talk, "That just gets your goat doesn't it?"

"I worked hard to get that card." He bellowed at Harry.

"Lied hard you mean, you didn't work at anything." Harry stated, "How did you get away from the ICW?"

"It really wasn't that hard." Dumbledore smiled, "All I needed was a little song bird to spirit me away."

"Abusing your power again, how typical." He sneered back at the man buying more time for the students to get out of the way, "You really don't have any idea how to do things for yourself do you? You wait for a muggle to hurt Grindlewald before you take the credit for that. Then you make things up to make everyone think you killed Riddle too. What else have you taken credit for that was done by someone else? Oh yeah right the twelve uses of Dragon's blood and your work with Flamel. Did you know that Nicholas thinks you are a snot nosed brat? He went on and on about how helpless you were in Alchemy. He didn't know you were the one to steal his first stone but he said it didn't matter as it was all used up."

"What?" he asked, "It is not I've been using it to great success."

"So you did steal it." Harry grinned, "It's good to know you can be truthful about some things. But turning things to gold is all you can do with it. It won't extend your life."

"It already has my dear boy." Dumbledore's smile wasn't nearly as aggravating as his words.

"I am not your boy. I don't swing that way." Harry kept up the banter.

As Harry kept Dumbledore's attention focused on him Tonks discretely sent a message to Kingsley and Bill sent one off to Gringotts. Minerva and Filius began to evacuate students through the back door they used during the Tri-wizard Tournament. Fifth year Prefects went first leading the first years to their dorms. By the time spells started flying the younger years were all safely away. The DA members refused to leave along with most of the seventh year students.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry was dueling as fast as he could. One on one with Dumbleduck was certainly pushing him to the ends of his abilities. He counter acted some truly fantastic work. Flame whips, crushing spells, animations and some interesting transfigurations. Harry meanwhile had his own tricks. He used the half eaten food on the table to distract Dumbledore while he was forming longer spells. It's hard to concentrate when you have chicken legs beating you around your head.

"You expect to finish me off with food?" Dumby sneered, "Really you need more defense training, too bad you've never been able to have that. Your pitiful skills are no match for my superior intellect."

"You know." Harry started as Dumbledore began a long complicated chant for a spell, "If you fought more with smaller spells you wouldn't get defeated so quickly. Needing five minutes to chant up that complicated stuff is going to do you in."

Just as the goblins and aurors arrived Harry transfigured all the food on the floor around Dumby into marbles and then sent a spell that pushed him back a few steps. It was like something out of a cartoon as his feet tried to find purchase without any luck because Harry forced the marbles to all gather at his feet. As Dumberthanadoor fell Harry disarmed him and caught the wand as it arched through the air. When his hand touched the wand several things happened at once. Harry's cloak warmed against his stomach, a ring appeared on his finger and Fawkes flashed into the room.

"Good old Fawkes, you've come to save me again." Dumbledore laughed for a moment until the bird settled on Harry's shoulder instead, "What are you doing. I own you, come here."

A sad trill was the only answer he received before the bird turned its back on him. Aurors and goblins alike moved in to take hold of him checking for injuries as they went. As the authorities were keeping him down Fawkes nudged Harry to get his attention, he looked and saw the bird tugging on something wrapped around its leg.

"What is it?" Harry asked, "Is it hurting you?"

Fawkes trilled again and then touched the wand Harry had taken from Dumbledore. Harry thought he knew what he wanted so he touched the band with the wand. It jumped apart and Fawkes was able to shake it loose. He then grabbed it up in his beak and glided off Harry's shoulder and over to Dumbledore. The bird then dropped it into Dumbledore's open hand and with a flash it disappeared and then reappeared wrapping around Dumby's wrist.

"Noooooo." Dumbledore wailed trying to reach for his arm to take it off but the aurors held him still. It was too late already as the two sides met with a metallic clang to signify its connection.

Then a voice boomed through the castle, "You have been in control long enough. Now you will be the one controlled. You will serve your punishment with no attempts to escape again and you will reveal all you know about what is asked of you."

Fawkes flew back to Harry and nuzzled him before he lifted off and flashed away. Harry's first question cleared away some questions, "Were you keeping Fawkes under your control with that band?"

"Yes." Dumbledore smiled, "I could make him do anything."

"How did I get it off?" Harry asked.

"Whatever magic places it is the only one who can remove it." He replied.

"This wand you used controlled him so I was able to release him." Harry grinned as Dumbledore was forced to nod in agreement, "And since Fawkes placed it on you, you have to follow his orders."

"Yes." He grumbled.

His next question more selfish, "Why did you imperious my relatives to hate me?"

"They were treating you like a son." Dumbledore ground out, "I needed you to be desperate to escape them so you would do what I told you to do. So you would die and leave the glory to me."

"Why has everyone always thought I should be able to stop dark wizards?" Harry pushed needing to know.

Dumbledownhill tried to stop himself, "I hired Lockheart to write an adventure series so everyone would think you could do anything. That way when you couldn't they'd be disappointed and think I had done it all instead of you."

"Why doesn't anyone see me as I truly am?" he asked.

"I wanted you to think I was the only one who cared what happened to you and that everyone else only cared because you are the boy who lived. I put a spell on you that allows them see what they want to see. They will only see the real you if that's what they want to see. No one wants to see you, they all want a hero." He sneered, "Except Severus. He wanted to see your father and hate you; it worked so well that I had to give him a bit of an antidote so he didn't end up killing you."

"How do I remove it?" Harry knew he was desperate for that knowledge.

"Only I can do it and you can't make me." Dumbledore laughed manically.

"Remove the curse." The voice boomed through the school.

"I don't have a wand." He tried to fight it.

"You don't need one."

He unwillingly muttered the password and released the spell on Harry. The magic felt like it was ripping a hole through his chest and he fell to his knees trying to hold in the scream of pain. The backlash knocked down most of the people in the room. Luckily the aurors had already tied Dumby up so he couldn't get away as they struggled to right themselves. Harry dropped to his side as the pain subsided. He was trying to take in deep breaths to steady himself again. Tonks was the first to reach him, kneeling by his side to check. She was followed by Minerva and Poppy. The three women drug him off to the hospital where he was fixed up and left to rest in a bed with Tonks keeping watch.

"How are you feeling?" Tonks asked as Poppy left.

"Like I've been punched in the chest." He grimaced, "Hurts to talk right now."

She stayed quiet and just watch over him as he rested. She would help him up when he needed to go to the loo and then situate his pillows when he returned. If she got restless she would get up and pace up and down the ward.

Within a few hours Remus arrived and took her place, "How are you feeling pup?"

Tonks slipped out the door as the two of them began to speak.

"Like I went for a ride on the knight bus but was run over, my sleeve caught on the underside and I was drug all over the country." Harry grimaced then turned to look at the man, he knew it had been a full moon the night before, "How are you?"

"I'm fine. I didn't have any dark wizards to play with today." He laughed.

They joked and talked for a little while until Harry began to yawn. Remus just sat quietly with him waiting for him to drift off to sleep. As he lay there Harry began to think about what had happened to him that evening.

"Something happened when I disarmed Dumbledore." Harry started fidgeting.

"What?" he asked concerned.

"My cloak warmed and a ring showed up on my finger." He held up his hand to show him, "No one has said anything about it yet, I'm worried about what it means."

"I didn't see it until you showed it to me." Remus said, "It must have a notice me not charm on it or something."

"Any idea why it would just appear on my finger?" he asked.

"No, but are you certain your cloak warmed?" he asked.

"As soon as the wand touched my hand it warmed." Harry replied, "I keep the cloak on me at all times usually under my shirt." He patted his stomach where the cloak was still sitting, "I know it warmed up."

"I'll start researching it tomorrow." Remus promised, "A goblin named Grimstooth said to tell you he'll be by later to speak with you."

"He's the one that set Dudley and me up to hide this summer." Harry grinned slightly, "He took us to the USA and introduced us to Mark and Mike. Then he set us up with an expense account and went after Dumber than a door."

"You have made up lots of nicknames for him." Remus grinned.

"We did." Harry grinned, "It was a favorite pastime for all four of us. Speaking of the four of us I need to get in contact with Mark and Mike. They'll want to know about the attack."

"I've heard from them." Minerva said as she entered the room, "Well from their doctors. Dumbledore tried to get to Dudley first."

"Is everyone ok?" Harry asked full of concern.

"Yes." Minerva nodded, "A few spell reversals and an obliviation squad to his school and everything is fine."

"Good. I wonder how he found out about Dudley." Harry looked at his Headmistress expectantly.

"Dumbledore isn't a stupid man. He knew Dudley was the only one he hadn't imperused. Gringotts had just cleared the Dursley's to learn where Dudley was." Minerva sighed, "Dumbledore went to St. Mungo's and killed your Uncle after pulling the information from his mind. Your aunt was in another room getting tested or something and he didn't have time to search for her. His intent was to kill Dudley but Mark and Mike caused him enough of a pause that he just injured him before leaving it alone and coming after you. He wanted to time it to get the best audience for your defeat. He thought if he could prove to be better than you everyone would believe that he stopped Voldemort."

Harry didn't know what to say about that. The man had to be completely mental to believe that. Of course he really had no idea how Harry had beaten Riddle so he was probably able to convince himself that no one else did either. The next morning Harry was released in time for breakfast. He made his way down to the Great Hall at a slow pace.

"I think you just vanquished your second Dark Lord." Firenze called from the door to his classroom.

"I think I agree with you on that." Harry grinned sheepishly at the centaur, "Something weird happened though and I was going to stop by later and talk to you about it. Do you have time now?"

"I do, come in." Harry turned from breakfast and headed into the forest like classroom.

"When I caught Dumbledore's wand something happened. You see I have this invisibility cloak from my dad and I always keep it on me. When I caught the wand the cloak warmed up and then a ring appeared on my finger." Harry explained, "Fawkes showed up at the same time but I think it was just a coincidence. Any idea what happened?"

"May I see the items?" he asked.

Harry pulled the cloak out and folded it into a triangle and sat it on a flat rock that was used as a desk for students. He placed the wand on the cloak and the ring he balanced on top of the wand. He then looked up expectantly to Firenze.

"Any reason you set them out like that?" Firenze asked.

"It just seemed proper." Harry shrugged.

"You need to speak to Ms. Lovegood." Firenze stated, "I believe she would be able to give you the insight you are looking for."

"Ok, I'll go see her and find out when she has some free time." Harry agreed right away and began to gather the three items, "Thanks for your advice."

"Any time Mr. Potter." Firenze watched him go before he left the building for the first time since Dumbledore had brought him into the school. He made his way to the edge of the forest but didn't step in.

Within a few minutes another Centaur arrived, "One more step and I will kill you."

"I know Bane that is why I waited here. I have a message for the Elders." He started.

"We need no messages from you." Bane interrupted.

"It's about the Master of Death prophecy." Firenze growled, "Surely even from a banished one news of that would be worth hearing."

"I'm listening." Bane said slowly.

"It is Harry Potter. I've seen him with all three items. He disarmed Dumbledore in combat last night." Firenze stated, "He already had the cloak from his father and the ring appeared on his finger."

"Are you sure…" Bane started.

"I saw the etching on the stone, I am sure." Firenze stomped the grass in frustration, "He doesn't know what he has yet."

"When he does we will bring her." Bane agreed.

"He'll know before the day is out." Firenze replied.

"Tomorrow then." Ban turned away and went back to the forest.

Firenze headed back to his classroom. Breakfast was ending by the time he entered the hall. He saw Harry pull Luna out of the crowd and whisper to her. She glanced his way before turning back to Harry and following him to an out of the way empty classroom.

"Why do you suppose Firenze suggested that I could help you?" Luna's airy voice asked while Harry was protecting their room and conversation.

"I don't know." Harry cleared the desk off and began to set out the three items again. This time he tried to set them differently but it just felt wrong.

"Oh, the hallows." She smiled, "Congratulations Harry."

"Why me?" Harry knew he sounded whiney but he couldn't help it.

"You must be the descendent of the youngest brother it's the only way you could have gotten them." Luna explained

"Luna, I either need you to explain better or point me in a direction to something or someone who can." Harry sighed, "I just don't understand. Maybe all magical kids know but I was raised a muggle."

"They are the Deathly Hallows Harry." She explained, "There is a story of three brothers that escaped from Death and he gave them gifts for being clever. These are the three gifts. An invisibility cloak that never fails, the most powerful wand in the world and a stone that can bring back the dead, I wouldn't use that one though because the original owner killed himself after using it."

"How do you know about them?" he asked, "Can I find the story written down somewhere?"

"Beedle the Bard is a children's fairy tale book, but this one is true." She explained, "You even have them set up right." She walked to the chalk board and drew out the symbol, "It's said the one person who could united them would be Master of Death."

"I don't want to be Master of Death Luna." Harry said in a warning voice.

"That is precisely why they chose you." Luna smiled serenely, "They wouldn't want someone who wants to master them."

"How did I get chosen?" He sighed in frustration.

"You owned the cloak already right?" he nodded at her and she continued, "You disarmed Dumbledore and got his wand, so you won it and it has changed its allegiance to you. Somehow you have brushed across the ring and it came when you touched the other two. It wouldn't have come if you were not all they required in a master. Many have tried to become the master but one or more pieces have stayed illusive. Others have tried to break the wands cycle ending its power without the master, but it always gets away."

"You're talking like they are sentient." Harry grimaced.

"You're talking like they aren't." she countered.

"So what does Master of Death have to do?" he asked slumping into a chair, "I'm only sixteen it better not want too much right away."

"I have no idea what you have to do. Will you tell me when you find out?" she asked.

"Do you know who might know?" he asked.

"Firenze." She suggested, "Since he sent you to me he may know why he did."

"Uhhh… that makes sense." Harry nodded, "I wonder how many circles he'll run me in before I get any answers."

"At least one more." She smiled, "I'd suggest the library first."

"Beedle the Bard?" she nodded in agreement with him.

When Harry arrived in the library he found Remus already there with a pile of books beside him. Harry approached but realized Remus was concentrating on something so he sat and looked through the books already on the table. The book he was looking for wasn't in the stacks so he stood up and went to find it. Pulling down the old battered book he returned to Remus' table. He found the story and read it twice before looking up to find Remus smiling at him.

"Come to help me study?" he asked.

"Come to show you the answer, I think." He handed the open book to the man.

He also read it twice before looking at Harry with skepticism, "It's a children's story to scare you into behaving."

"Luna said it's a true story." He shrugged, "The items fit."

"Harry…" he started but stopped when Luna sat down at their table.

"Did you find it?"

"I did." Harry nodded.

"But Professor Lupin doesn't believe it's anything more than a fairy tale to scare kids." She waved him off ignoring Remus, "Most people don't believe. Should be easy to prove it to him, all we have to do is find out if you're related to Ignotus Peverell."

"Why?" Harry wondered.

"He was rumored to be the first owner of the cloak." She explained, "If you're related to him you have his cloak. Therefore you would be the Master…"

"Don't… say it here… please?" Harry interrupted.

"Ok." She stood and began to skip away but stopped, "Professor Firenze wants to see you tomorrow morning after breakfast."


	14. Chapter 14

Sixth year had been really close to a dream year so far. If you ignore the fight with Dumbbunny it had been going great, although the food fight portion was pretty fun. Harry was sitting in the hospital waiting for Poppy to give him yet another checkup and then let him go to breakfast. Ron and Hermione were sitting with him as she checked him over.

"You're fine but no more fights with stupidly powerful people." She admonished.

"You mean stupid and powerful?" Harry laughed, "Can I go to breakfast then?"

"Yes go on now, get out of my hair." She waved him off, "Come back in three days I want to check you over again, just to make sure."

He agreed and the trio was soon on their way to breakfast. Harry began to have a sense of Deja vu as people kept stopping by their table and congratulating him on capturing Dumbledore. Ron was laughing as he waved off the thirtieth person in ten minutes. Harry headed out from breakfast ready to go to the common room when Luna stopped him.

"Don't forget to visit with Professor Firenze." She reminded him.

"I'll catch up to you guys later." Harry told his friends, "I need some information from him."

"See you in the common room then?" Hermione asked, "We need to finish our homework."

"Yeah sure." He replied, "I'll be there soon."

He turned and headed off towards the classroom Firenze stayed in and knocked on the door. Firenze let him in and he stepped in amazed as always at how the room looked like you were in the forest. He followed the centaur into the room and sat on a log when he stopped.

"Have you learned anything?" he asked.

"Luna pointed me to the story about the three brothers and I've read it." Harry said with a shrug, "It seems to fit."

"It does. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Hundreds." Harry chuckled, "Starting with am I really the Master of Death? What does it mean? What will be required of me? And my biggest question is why me?"

Firenze chuckled at him before addressing his questions, "I am not qualified to answer any of those questions." Harry groaned but Firenze waved him off, "I do however know who is."

"Can you tell me who that is?" he asked knowing how centaurs hate to give straight answers.

"Meet me tonight at curfew at the front doors. You will be receiving a visitor." He instructed and then turned and wandered off into his forest.

"Are you going to be with me?" Harry asked.

"No." with that the centaur faded out of sight.

Harry walked through the halls slowly. He was meandering a little but he needed to think before he returned to the common room to do homework with Hermione. He thought about all that had been happening as he walked but by the time he reached the common room he had not understood any of it more than he had when he started. When the portrait opened the commotion coming from inside temporarily made him forget about Firenze.

"What's going on?" Harry yelled to be heard above everyone else.

"Hey Harry." Ginny waved him over, "We're trying to figure out where would be the best place to hang this."

"What do you have?" he was still confused.

"Seamus and I made a piece of art and we want to hang it up." Dean grinned at him, "See it's a list of all the charges Dumbledore was convicted of and then today's paper where it talks about you aiding in his capture."

"I thought they couldn't put my name in the paper anymore." Harry flopped on the couch.

"Only the ICW or Ministry's official statements won't name you." Hermione informed him from her seat as far from the commotion as she could get, "They can repeat anything an eye witness sees. Not sure who told them everything but it sounds like a student."

"So where should we put this. I say over here but Ginny wants it in the middle." Ron pointed to two spots.

"Put it to one side then I can give you the list of nicknames we made up for Dumbledork. There's about two hundred that are clean enough for the common room wall." Harry said, "That way it will balance."

"How did you come up with two hundred nicknames?" Seamus asked grinning widely.

"We came up with four hundred but one hundred and fifty of them aren't for anyone below a fifth year. Another fifty they wouldn't even let me see." Harry laughed with his friends.

"I thought you said you studied during the summer." Hermione pouted.

"I did, but not all the time. Every time we talked about Dumb as a Duck we would make up another nickname, sometimes several new nicknames. My personal favorite that has to be written is spelled Dumbbulldoor." Harry smiled remembering how some of them were thought up, "We even have two that cover his whole name but only one can be repeated."

"What is the one you can repeat?" Neville asked.

"Always Proven to be Weird and Badly Dressed." Harry smiled as Neville chuckled.

"Any for You Know Who?" Seamus asked.

"We didn't bother too much with him. Generally we called him Voldy or Voldesnort." Harry shrugged, "He's dead so we just didn't bother."

"I always liked Moldyshorts." Dean sighed, "That's what my group called him."

"Get us the list and we'll frame it up just like this one." Seamus instructed.

"Harry, were you really abused like they said?" Lavender was the one that finally had the nerve to ask him the question they'd all want to ask since they returned to school.

"The Prophet made a guess." Harry said, "They made some wild accusations based on less than half the information that's here. I was abused. Some things they got close on, others they were way off base. Rita's article was full of lies and little else. One thing that hasn't made the papers yet was the imperious curse The Great Dumb One placed on my relatives. Without that curse I wouldn't have been abused. So I'm going with Dumby did the abuse and no one else."

"Harry, are you going back to your relatives next summer?" Ron asked.

"No." he didn't want to get into anything yet. He knew more would be in the paper during the coming days. No reason to mention anything about his Uncle right now.

He was correct and over the next few days more and more information came out. Dudley even made the paper as did his body guards, though their identities were kept silent. Harry did leave the school for Vernon's funeral and was accompanied by Remus and Tonks. It was hard to remember that the man that abused him was not the man in the casket.

"Harry, thanks for coming." Dudley pulled him into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Dudley." Harry hugged him back, "How are you doing."

"I'm fine." He started but at Harry's look he said, "Ok I'm just wondering what all I missed by not knowing my real Dad. I'm so mad at Dumb… I can't say the one I want to use it would upset Mum if she heard."

"How is she doing?" Harry asked glancing at her sitting not far from the two of them.

"She's doing ok." Dudley said, "They had separated Mum and Dad at the Hospital because Dad wasn't recovering as well from his curse as she was. He tried to hit her the other day."

"Maybe I didn't get it all off. I'm so sorry." Harry knew he was repeating himself but he had failed his cousin.

"No, no you got it all." He corrected him right away, "Dad just reacted worse to the curse than Mum did. I mean look back Mum was never as mean to you as Dad was. The doctor said he thought the curse had been place on him longer or stronger than on Mum and that he'd never get back to what he was before."

"Harry." Petunia finally noticed him, "Thank you for coming."

"Hi Aunt Petunia." Harry knelt at her chair, "How are you doing?"

"Ok, the doctors gave me some medicine to help me stay calm." She indicated the healers standing near her, "They're worried about my health they are such nice people."

"They are very nice." He patted her back as he gave her a light hug and then addressed Dudley again, "Do you need anything?"

"Not right now." He sighed, "Some solicitor they had is taking care of everything. Dad's life insurance will pay off any bills and should leave Mum with a nice nest egg. He's got retirement coming from Grunnings too so I think she'll be set."

"Do you need help paying for your school or anything?" he asked.

"No our temporary guardians picked this year up." He said evasively for those around them, "Next year I don't know."

"Keep in touch, I'll help any way I can." Harry bid them goodbye and left with Remus and Tonks.

"How are you?" a Tonks with black hair asked as they stepped into the car from the Ministry.

Harry noticed several of Dudley's friends in the crowd were gaping as he stepped into the big black fancy car, "I'm ok. Just feel bad for them. I can't get past the beating I got in order to actually feel bad about his death. I mean I know it was all Dumbledore's fault but all I can see is his fist coming at my face."

"I'm going to be at school for the next month." Remus said, "You can come talk to me anytime, that's what I'm there for."

"My own personal counselor?" Harry asked.

"As always." Remus pulled him in for a hug that made Harry remember the first time he saw Remus after the last summer.

***Flashback***

"Harry!" Remus found him in the DA classroom with Tonks. He nearly ran across the room to pull Harry into a hug, "Are you really ok? I've been so worried."

"I'm fine really." Harry replied from the tight hug, "Although I do need some air."

"Sorry, I've just been so worried." Remus set him down, "I haven't been able to quit worrying about how you are being treated, where you were and if you had healed up alright. I couldn't let it go and believe the goblins after everything Dumbledore did."

"Thanks." Harry chuckled, "But my summer was really great. I can tell you all about it if you want."

"Start talking." Remus pulled up a chair.

"Don't I even rate a wave or anything?" Tonks said from behind the desk.

"Hello Tonks, how are you?" Remus smiled sheepishly at her.

"Fine thanks. Now talk Harry I want to hear all about it too." She came around the desk and took a seat beside Remus.

Harry sat on the teacher's desk facing them, "I feel like I'm about to lecture the two of you on proper conduct for relationships at school."

"Don't." they said together with a small laugh.

"Ok, you know DumbDumb broke my wand and had Vernon beat me. Dudley helped my escape." Harry started.

"DumbDumb?" Tonks raised an eyebrow at him.

"We made many nicknames up for him." Harry explained before he told them everything that had happened.

"So your alias was Harry Aaron Smith." Tonks laughed, "Sounds like a guy having a really bad hair day."

"I do that every day." Harry ran his hand through the mop on his head, "It never stays down."

"It never will." Remus smiled at him, "James tried everything. The only time it kind of worked was when Sirius dumped a bottle of cooking oil on his head. He looked a bit like Snape for about two seconds then the hair started springing right back up. Then he chased Sirius around the gardens for about an hour. He only stopped then because his Mum came to remind him they were having company show up in about twenty minutes and we needed to get ready."

"What were my Grandparents like?" Harry asked.

They spent the next several hours talking about the Potters and what Remus could remember about the Evans'. He learned more about his Dad than about his Mum but he could always talk to Snape about his Mum again.

***End Flashback***

"Harry?" Tonks voice brought him back.

"What?" Harry looked at her.

"Where were you?" she asked, "Remus called your name like three times."

"Sorry just thinking." He shrugged, "What did you want?"

"I was just wondering where you were the evening after the Dumbledore thing." Remus asked, "I had looked for you but Hermione just said you had a meeting with a teacher. I hadn't been able to get free until today to ask."

"My meeting was with Firenze." Harry said, "I was going to come by and talk about it later but I guess I can give you a light overview and discuss the details later. He took me out to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to meet with the centaurs. Really only one of them wanted to talk to me but they had a pretty large group along with her."

"What did they want to talk to you about?" Remus was very concerned about him meeting with them.

"The three items." Harry didn't want to say more with the Ministry driver there, "They had more information about them, but I don't know what to think about their ideas."

Harry turned to look out the window. Twenty minutes later they three of them were safely tucked into Tonks' office. She passed out tea and biscuits before settling down for the talk.

"They really believe the Master of Death thing." Harry started, "They think my life span will be greatly increased, injuries will heal much faster and learning and doing magic will come easier. I'm not sure about that because since the Ministry thing last spring I've already found both to be much easier. If it gets any easier I'll be Hermione II. Next they were saying I'm the one destined to bring all magical races together in harmony."

"Just a simple little task then." Tonks sat back with a shocked look on her face.

"How can I create anything with harmony when I am completely covered in chaos?" Harry said exasperated, "I mean me, really? What can they be thinking?"

"I don't think they expect it tomorrow or anything." Remus consoled him, "Maybe at the other end of this long life expectancy."

"I doubt it even then." Harry shook his head, "Harmony has never been my strong suit. I mean I don't even own that suit."

Remus grinned at him, "Any other little stuff?"

"Oh yeah I have to keep the world safe from anything setting out to magically harm it." Harry sighed and flopped back on the desk, "Peace and harmony, I really know sooo much about both of those things."

"Good thing you are a defense prodigy then." Tonks chuckled at his theatrics, "Just knock off everything trying to harm anything and harmony should just fall into place."

"So says you." Harry grumbled.

"So says me." Tonks stood and pulled him back up to a sitting position and then hugged him, "You'll be fine. Don't worry about it. It's probably one of those things that is just a side effect of being you. I mean you already defeated two of the worst dark wizards in history, world peace should be a snap."

"I feel so much better now thanks." Harry pulled back, "Moony please tell me your answer is better than that."

"I actually think she's on to something there." Remus stood, "It may not be anything you really do. The harmony part I mean. It may be that harmony is achieved because people want to be like you and you treat everyone like equals. You made friends with purebloods, half bloods and muggle borns without thinking about it. Add to that you're friends with a werewolf, a centaur, a house elf, a hippogriff and how many goblins, and you're still only sixteen. I think you are pretty well on the way to harmony amongst the races."

"I didn't think of it that way." Harry said thoughtfully, "I don't think the centaurs think of it that way either. But I guess I have a bigger start than I thought."

"Good start on the world peace too. If you still become an auror we'll all help you fight the bad guys." She patted his back.

"I don't think working for the Ministry is in my future." Harry disagreed with her, "If they find out about the Master of Death thing my extended life will be spent as a test subject in the Department of Mysteries."

"Good point." Tonks shuddered, "I would hate to see that happen. It would make it really hard to be Godfather to all my, and Remus', kids if they have you locked up in there."

"Tonks." Remus whined, "I don't think now is the time."

"Oh no this is the perfect time." She grinned, "We have our own personal mediator for harmony amongst the magical races. Tell him how stupid he is being about all this."

"By all this I'm guessing you want a relationship and he keeps saying he can't because he's a werewolf, blah, blah, blah dangerous and poor, blah blah…" Harry reached over and smacked Remus upside the head, "Are you leaving all the harmony stuff to me or are you going to do your part."

"She can't be an auror and be married to a werewolf in the current political climate." He argued.

"I'm not an auror, I'm a teacher." She grinned, "I'm an expert at dealing with dark and dangerous."

"Harmony Remus." Harry reiterated, "I've seen how you are around her, when you aren't being an idiot, I know you like her and it makes you happy to be with her. Give in already. At least take the lady for a nice dinner date my treat."

"Harry I don't need you money or help here." he started.

"I'm just doing my part to bring harmony to the magical races." He grinned, "I have to help or I can't count it."


	15. Chapter 15

Harry stretched out on the sofa in the common room. It was a quiet evening inside as it was a nice evening outside. He figured he had about ten more minutes before the sun went down and everyone else came back in. At the five minute mark the portrait opened and Harry thought he had misjudged. He hadn't and only two girls entered the room.

"Hi Harry." Ginny said as she picked up his feet and dropped them on the floor.

"Hi Harry." Luna sat on his other side as he sat up in the middle between the two girls.

"I feel trapped for some reason." He sighed.

"Your intuition is uncanny." Ginny grinned, "Hogsmeade is Saturday and Luna and I want to take you shopping."

"Yep it was a trap." He grumbled.

"Come on Harry, it is obvious that only guys went shopping for your clothes." She bumped his shoulder, "Black, grey and more black is not a good look for you."

"You need some color." Luna agreed.

"Will you feel better if Neville comes with us?" Ginny asked.

"I'd rather not force him to go just to keep me company." Harry replied, "I like his friendship and don't want him angry at me right now."

"Come on, you'll be looking for a job soon and you really need a better wardrobe." Ginny insisted.

"Fine." Harry gave in, "But you get to explain to Ron why I'm too busy to go with him and Hermione."

"He's going to be busy too." Luna giggled.

"Hush." Ginny admonished her quickly.

"Who are you sticking him with and do I need to worry about Hermione being alone?" Harry looked back and forth between a serene looking Luna and an evilly grinning Ginny, "You're setting the two of them up?"

"You know they just need time alone to get their acts together." Ginny huffed at his shock.

"Peace and harmony." Harry breathed quietly to himself, "Peace and harmony."

"That or something is going to explode." Luna added.

"Just so you know my seventh year has been really peaceful." Harry glared at the two of them, "If this blows up and disturbs the rest of my year I'm not going to be a happy camper."

"You have picked up some of the weirdest sayings from Professor McGonagall's nephews." Ginny frowned at him

Harry shrugged and looked at his watch, "Times up."

"Times up?" Ginny asked.

Harry held up three fingers, then two, then one and pointed to the portrait just as it was pulled open and people came pouring through, "Quiet time is over."

After dinner Harry went to his dorm and relaxed on his bed. He knew he wouldn't have long before Ron and Hermione started looking for him again. But right now both of them were in the library and Harry could find quiet time again. The last two years had been very interesting. It saw the death of Voldemort. The arrest, escape and recapture of Dumb Ole Bore. And last but not least the arrest and trial of Rita Skeeter. The last Harry wished he had gotten to witness but knowing it was done had to be enough.

That year had also seen the turnaround for his cousin, the death of his uncle and the change in his aunt that he just almost couldn't fathom. She had actually cried last spring when he went to spend the summer with Mike and Mark instead of staying with her and Dudley. He had consented to spend the last two weeks of summer with the two of them. The most amazing thing was Petunia spending her time those two weeks telling him all about his mother and grandparents.

His current, and last, school year had been very calm. His ability to memorize spells and things now rivaled Hermione. He had wondered off and on what kind of things she could have done with the extra learning ability the Hallows gave him. Speaking of those he had told no one outside Firenze, Luna, Remus and Tonks that he owned all three. He didn't think anyone realized he still had Dumbledore's wand. The most excitement he'd had this year was the infrequent visits from Fawkes.

Now the school year was nearing the end. NEWTs were just a few scant weeks away and everyone in seventh year was talking about jobs. Who had jobs, who didn't, where they wanted to work or what kind of work they wanted to do was the only thing talked about except NEWTs.

Harry was the exception. He wasn't talking about either thing. He had plans, had already been accepted into a program, as long as he got good grades. But no one was going to know about it until it was too late to talk him out of it. The exception to that was Remus. He had only told him because the man was starting to go crazy over Christmas shoving applications at him at every turn. Harry had calmly explained what his plans were and Remus calmed down. He didn't like what Harry had chosen for a profession but he was glad he chose something.

Last summer, instead of vacationing with Mark and Mike, he had trained with them. Not like the year with Dudley catching up on his studies, but learning the ins and outs of the security business. Harry wasn't going to work with them as his name would gain far too much attention. But what they knew would help him in his own business.

The next step in his plans, the one he would take this summer, was an internship with ICW. Working there he would be able to get a set of law books. Not just any books but self-updating law books from every country in the ICW, which was all of them. He would even be able to purchase both magical and muggle books. He would also learn the fine art of politics. Once that was out of the way he was headed to train with the goblins. He was willing to learn anything they wanted to teach him whether it be finance or fighting. Mixed into all of that was the muggle fighting classes he was set up to start. When he finished his company would be for hire by any magical race to help them come into peaceful harmony with the rest of the world.

Peace and harmony, the centaurs told him that was his job as Master of Death. You wouldn't really think that those things went together but after using the stone once he knew that after death there was only peace and harmony. His parents and Sirius had taught him that when he had called them with the stone. It had been one year to the day from the time he came into possession of the stone that he finally decided he needed to see what it was about. Halloween of this year he had locked himself into the Room of Requirement and used the stone. He would cherish forever those moments he had with his loved ones.

"Harry?" Ron's voice penetrated his thoughts.

"Here." He replied opening his curtains.

"Have you had enough 'me' time yet?" he chuckled.

"I suppose." Harry sat up and stretched before standing, "Who is looking for me now?"

"Hermione wants to study. Ginny wants to practice for the last match." Ron then scratched his head, "Luna wants to know if you want to go get some pudding."

"Luna it is then." Harry grinned and slipped past Ron, "Give the rest my apologies will you?"

"Give them your own." Ron grumbled as he followed Harry down.

Harry deftly avoided both Hermione and Ginny as he scooped up Luna and carried her out of the common room. She giggled as he sat her down outside the portrait.

"Ready for an escape then." She smiled at him.

"I finally got relaxed I'm not about to start something that's going to lose that for me." He stated, "What are you wanting tonight?"

"Chocolate pudding." She smile serenely, "You?"

"Chocolate anything." He replied, "We should get it to go. As soon as Ginny and Hermione recover they'll be after us."

"Hide and seek was always one of my favorite games."

Hermione was able to track him down some time later, "Harry James Potter, why are you avoiding me?"

Harry was sitting by the lake, "Because you want to force me to do revising, which I don't need, and it will just stress me out, which I also don't need."

"NEWTs are right around the corner…" she started her tirade.

"I know, really Herms how could I forget. You've been reminding me every day since the beginning of first year. I know exactly when the NEWTs are taken." Harry grinned roguishly to let her know he was only teasing.

"Revising now." She stomped her foot and pointed to the castle.

Harry sighed and then stood and bowed, "As you wish."

All the way into the castle and then up to the common room they questioned each other. Hermione picked the hardest questions she could think of and Harry returned the favor. By the time they reached the common room Harry asked one more question. It was hard enough that it made Hermione pause.

"I don't know." She looked at him, "What is it?"

"You should probably go to the library and find out." He smirked and started up the boy's stairs, "You wouldn't learn if I just gave you the answer."

"Come back here we're revising." Hermione called after him.

"Find the answer to the question and then I'll continue." He yelled back.

Hermione grumped then turned and headed back out the door. It opened just before she reached it and Ron entered. He saw the look on her face and his was immediately filled with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Harry." She growled, "I've got to go to the library."

"Why is Harry making you go to the library?" Ron asked confused.

Hermione threw up her hands without turning around, "Him and his stupid questions."

Ron shrugged not understanding and went on to his dorm where he found Harry, "Why is Hermione cussing you out under her breath?"

"She forced me to revise with her." Harry grinned at him from his bed.

"And you asked her a ridiculously hard question to get her off your back." Ron understood, "She should have just asked you for the answer."

"She did." Harry laughed, "Told her she won't learn if she doesn't have to look it up."

"Oh no, you turned her own words against her?" Ron shook his head, "That was mean."

"You know what's meaner?" he asked.

"Do I want to know?" Ron slumped onto his own bed.

"The answer isn't in the library." He snickered.

"How do you know?" Ron leaned up on an elbow to better see his friend.

"Because I created the spell not more than a few months ago." He sighed in satisfaction, "It's not written down anywhere."

"Are you going to be mad if I go tell her?" he asked sitting up.

"Nope, go get some brownie points." Harry waved him off thinking, I got rid of two for the price of one, can't get a better deal than that.

"Harry James Potter." Hermione yelled from the common room, "Get down here."

"Don't want to." Harry yelled back, "I'm quite comfy right here."

"I will come get you." She replied, "And if I have to come get you I'll hex you."

"No you won't." he grinned as he yelled, "You love me, you know you do."

"Like the irritating little brother you are." She started up the steps and Harry met her at the door.

"I thought you wanted me to come study, now you're coming up here what's the deal?" he asked with a completely innocent face.

"You are on my very last nerve and I'm going to explode all over you." She said in a deceptively calm voice, "You go first and I'll follow."

"What are we studying?" Harry asked the seventh years that were all gathered.

As they flopped down onto the sofa Hermione muttered, "I swear you are getting worse every day. You are worse than Fred and George put together."

"What a complement." Harry grinned, "And I was only aiming for as bad as Fred. By the way I wouldn't let the twins know you said that because they'd spend all their time trying to prove you wrong."

"You are going to drive me to insanity." She said and then proceeded to begin revising.

Several hours later Ron finally called for a stop, "Come on Hermione, it's time to quit for the night. If we stay up all night studying we'll be too tired tomorrow to function."

"Fine then off to bed with the lot of you." She started gathering her things.

"What are your plans for when we get out of here?" Seamus asked Harry.

He gave the same answer he was giving everyone, "Oh, a little of this and a little of that."

"You need to make up your mind." Hermione was still very grumpy at him.

"Honestly Hermy, I already know what I'm going to do, doesn't mean I have to share it with everyone." Harry grinned, "I really wanted to tell you and Ron first."

"Well spill already we're both here." Ron pushed.

"I'll tell you after we finish the exams." Harry grinned and trotted off to bed.

"He's killing me." Hermione finished gathering her things, "He's really killing me."

"It's a sibling thing." Ginny said from her spot at a nearby table, "Younger siblings live to torment the older ones. I get to torment Ron. Ron gets to torment the twins, which can't be done, instead he joins them in tormenting Percy. Bill and Charlie are too old for us to torment, the twins and Percy finished them off ages ago."

"But he needs to quit playing around." Hermione grumbled.

"He doesn't really need to stop playing its good for him to play a bit." Ginny turned all her attention on her friend, "He has changed a lot in the last two years and if you don't see that you're blind."

"I see it." She grumbled, "I just don't like it. He was always so mature and now he's just goofing off. Now when it's more important than ever to have good grades he's sloughing off."

"You need to rethink that." Ginny said, "He was serious when he was saving the world. He was serious when he was being abused. He was serious when our lives were on the line. Good grades are not nearly as serious as all that. Let him be a bit of a kid. Besides, he'll probably be top in the class anyway he's a different kind of smart than everyone else."

"I know I'm sorry." She sighed, "I'm just nervous and…"

"You get over being nervous by studying." Ginny consoled her, "Harry deals with stress differently. He gets over it by finding relaxing activities like getting pudding with Luna, sitting by the lake, playing quidditch or teasing you. He knows the answers and you should apologize to him not me."

"You're right." she sighed, "Tomorrow I'll apologize."

"You don't have to." Harry's voice came from the stairs and the two girls looked up to see him standing there, "In fact I need to apologize for trying to drive you crazy. We get over stress differently after all."

"I'm sorry." Hermione pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry too." Harry hugged her back, "I developed that spell a few months ago. It was kind of an accident but it was cool too."

"You have to teach me." She mock glared at him.

"After NEWTs, I don't want to distract you." He turned and headed back up the stairs, "Night all."

"Night." The rest of the seventh year students went their own ways.

Harry lay in bed that night trying to relax after hearing the latest news from Tonks. He finally knew how he had contact with the ring before he touched the wand. It had been one of the Horcruxes. Tonks had tested it that evening and there were traces of the dark magic still on the ring. Why they hadn't thought of that before he'd never know.

Soon enough the last game of quidditch was played and the last of the tests were taken and a large group of sixth and seventh years were setting by the lake. In fact every seventh year was there Slytherins at one end and Gryffindors at the other with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff as a buffer in the middle. It was a Hufflepuff that started the question.

"What are each of you going to do now?"

There were a range of answers across all fields. Several were headed to the Aurors. A few were joining family businesses. A large chunk of them were set to find jobs at the Ministry. Harry was the only one who didn't offer up his plans.

"Harry you said you'd tell us after tests." Ron pointed out.

"I was going to tell you and Hermione after tests." He replied, "I didn't really want to spread it around."

"What are you going to do Potter." Draco sneered, "Work at the Weasley's shop?"

"Wait if you want." Hermione said, "But if you don't mind telling everyone we won't hold it against you for not telling us first."

"You sure?" he asked, Ron and Hermione nodded, "I have an internship. If I passed all of my NEWTs with no lower than an E."

"Who with?" Susan Bones asked.

"ICW." Harry said off handedly.

"You're kidding?" Neville asked dumbfounded.

"There is no way you are an intern for the ICW." Draco sneered, "Or did you just wave you're title under their noses and make them?"

"Stop it." Hermione growled, "We're all getting on fine don't destroy it."

"I didn't destroy it Potter did." He sneered, "He has to hold back and then rub everyone else's nose in it because he's famous. He's the Boy Who Lived."

"I hate the attention and I hate being famous." Harry growled, "Why can't you get that through your thick head."

"You use your Boy Who Lived title and shove it in our faces all the time." Draco growled back.

Harry stood, "I never use that title. If I could give up being the Boy Who Lived I'd do it in an instant. All it means to me is that my parents didn't live. It's a constant reminder that they had to die in my stead. You of all people show know what the loss of even one parent feels like." With that said Harry turned his back and walked back up to the castle.

"And that Malfoy is why he didn't want to tell anyone." Neville glared at the blond, "Only idiots that don't know how the ICW works would think that." The rest of the group, even the Slytherins, got up and left him alone by the lake.


	16. The List

That is the end of this story. The next part deviated so far from the first title I cut it off here and the next section is a new story. However, I will be writing more before I start posting. In the meantime some of my other stories may get finished and get posted first.

_As per Request a list of nicknames used in the story_

1 Dumbo 2 Dumbdork 3 Dumbbell

4 The Great Dumb One 5 Dumby 6 Dumber Than Me

7 Dumb as a Rock 8 Dumb as a Door 9 Dumb and Dumber

10 Dumb as a Duck 11 Dumbduck 12 Dumbbunny

13 Dumbdumb 14 Dumb Between the Ears 15 Dumbleduck

16 Dumber Than a Door 17 Dumbledownhill 18 Dumbledork

19 Dumbbulldoor 20 Dumb Ole Bore 21 Always Proven to be Weird and Badly Dressed (APWBD)

22 Dumb as a Doorknob

_Names not used in the story (may update this list as I run across more nicknames as long as they stay clean) most of these are suggestions from reviews_

23 Dumbles 24 Dumblekiller 25 Dumbledim

26 Dumbleschmuck 27 Dumb as a Doornail 28 Dumbsnort

29 MOC – Manipulative old coot 30 MOG – Manipulative old goat 31 MOT – Manipulative old toad

32 Dumb a la door 33 Dumbledope 34 Dork of the Door

35 Bumbledoor 36 Bumble Bunny 37 Dumblesnore

38 Dumby makes me snore 39 Bumblemore 40 Fumbledore

41 Fumblesmore 42 Bumbles 43 MOF Manipulative old Fool

44 MOB Manipulative old Buzzard 45 Dumber than my Mummy (I'm assuming they meant the ancient Egyption one)

46 Albus Cankersore 47 Dumblejerk 48 Dumblepest

49 Dumblequack 50 Dumblemeddler 51 Dumbletwerp

52 Dumbledork 53 Tumbles 54 Dumber than Dumb

_*** Anagrams***_

55 A Used Old Bumbler

56 A Rude Old Bumbles


End file.
